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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider DOTr goes digital in all modes of transport to enhance safety

DOTr goes digital in all modes of transport to enhance safety

Published Jun 5, 2020 12:00 am
By EMMIE V. ABADILLA The Department of Transportation (DOTr)'s Road Transport, Railways, Maritime and Aviation Departments are going digital to limit human intervention and make transactions seamless. DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade (Photo by Ali Vicoy) DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade (Photo by Ali Vicoy) The DOTr is abiding by the safety measures of health authorities to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). DOTr will ensure that the public transportation sector will not become a transmission vector of the disease, stressed Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade. “While our mandate is to provide transportation, mobility and convenience among the population, we must help prevent the spread of COVID-19,” he reiterated. In the Road sector, several transactions will be made online and through cashless payments. Starting June 16, 2020, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will launch the Public Transport Online Processing System (PTOPS) in Metro Manila. This will allow services to be made accessible online. Meanwhile, the Land Transportation Office will implement digital transactions made through the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS). Through the system, application for driver/conductor’s renewal of license, requests for revision of records, and requests for Certificate of No Apprehension can be processed online. Cashless transactions will also be implemented in public utility vehicles (PUVs), taxis, and Transport Network Vehicle Services (TNVS) through Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS). This will be carried out through the support of various payment solutions companies, whose mobile applications have also features that allow contact tracing of passengers. Electronic toll collection will also be made through the mandatory use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags on all PUVs using tollways and expressways. In the Railways sector, services will undergo total digitalization. This includes online reservations or train ticket purchases. Passengers can also opt to use cards or use digital payment options. In addition to this, rail networks will also expand the use of artificial intelligence on its infrastructure. This method will be of great benefit for massive scanning and temperature profiling, automated contact tracing, human to human contact detection or detection of social distancing violations, face mask detection, and frequent contact surface analysis. In the Maritime sector, the Automated Passenger Ticketing System will soon be implemented. The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will automate passenger ticketing in all its passenger terminals nationwide to avoid face-to-face ticketing transactions. The pilot testing of the system started on March this year and is targeted to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2020. There will also be an integration of all payment platforms into one system covering all PPA terminals to limit face-to-face cargo transactions. The PPA will likewise implement a centralized vessel tracking and port surveillance system called the National Port Monitoring Center. This will be used to monitor vessel and port activities as part of border control and protection. In the Aviation sector, transport authorities are considering the use of Virtual Air Traffic Control (ATC) Towers. This will allow ATC services to be provided away from the airport, instead of airport towers. “We are gearing to a future wherein technological advancement will be highly optimized," according to Tugade. "As we gradually shift to the 'new normal', we have to adapt digitalization in most of the things we do so that we can move forward faster,” he concluded.
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