Cashless or contactless public utility vehicle transactions will soon be the thing in Baguio City.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong is pursuing the alternative payment system for PUVs in the city as part of the “new normal” lifestyle in view of the continuing threat of the Covid-19 and the city’s digital transformation.
A memorandum of agreement will soon be forged between the city government and SquidPay, a payment solutions company which offered a fare collection system that uses cashless, contactless, and seamless payment transactions through tap cards, near-field communication, or QR codes.
The city accepted the offer because it will be free of charge and the company has the ready facility to implement the system.
The system does not impose charges for its transactions and for the device to be used by the PUVs.
The system was presented to the public utility jeepney and taxi operators on June 24.
Individual walk-through sessions were scheduled by the company beginning Friday to acquaint the operators and their drivers on the system.
The system is targeted for implementation in July, according to the mayor.
“Contactless payment scheme will help minimize direct physical transactions when collecting fares and this is aligned with our social distancing measure,” he said.
It is also in line with the city’s “Baguio in my pocket” project which aims to digitize all city government transactions and the Smart City project which will set up a state-of-the-art integrated and multipurpose command center with the use of top-of-the-line technology and artificial intelligence to tackle peace and order, traffic and disaster response. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
