Thousands of passengers are still falling in long queues in major ports across the country due to the manual purchase and issuance of tickets of vessels heading to and from the provinces.
The port congestion, which is a regular scene during peak season like Christmas break, is worsened by the inadequate number of vessels that transport passengers and goods, which result in long waiting hours for passengers and monstrous traffic jams on the roads leading to ports.
Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said the regular inconveniences that travelers suffer during peak season calls for the mandatory implementation of an online ticketing system for all port passengers.
“Passengers should enjoy convenient travel experience in the ports so that they would feel comfortable on their way for a vacation to their hometowns and in any part of the country during long holiday breaks,” said Santiago.
“Currently, this is not the case because passengers have no choice but to buy tickets right in the ports because there is no other platform for doing so. So instead of the passengers heading directly to the passenger terminals, they still have to spend more time in long queues just to buy tickets,” he added.
The PPA has been pushing for an online platform in the purchase of tickets for sea travelers at least in the major ports across the country due to the congestion during peak travel season.
At the Batangas port for instance, an average of 25,000 passengers have been recorded since Friday last week and most of them have to fall in the long lines on th ticket booths of various passenger vessel companies.
Aside from the Batangas Port, other ports with recorded huge volume of passengers for this year’s Christmas exodus are the ports in Panay/Guimaras, Mindoro, Bohol, and Bicol.
PPA is expecting around 4.5 million port passengers from Dec. 15, 2024 to Jan. 5 next year.
Aside from e-ticketing system, the PPA has been also calling for the increase in the number of passenger vessels by shipping lines.
E-ticketing
The e-ticketing system is one of the two full digitization efforts that they want to implement supposedly in 2023 aside from the Trusted Operator Program – Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS).
Santiago said the e-ticketing system will have a platform wherein all the shipping lines would be connected.
The portal includes the schedule of all travels such as the expected departure and arrival time from and to the ports, as well as a system that would enable booking and ticket payment.
“Our kababayan can log on to this portal and plan their travel in just one sitting at the comfort of their homes, offices or wherever they are,” said Santiago in a past interview.
"We hope that the shipping lines will accept the migration to electronic ticketing for the benefit of the riding public. Our kababayans deserve a better travelling experience which is safe, convenient and free from scalpers and fixers," he added.
PBBM’s digitalization push
PPA’s push to implement the e-ticketing system in 2023 was supposedly an immediate response to the order of President Marcos in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) for all government offices to digitalize vital services immediately.
“Consistent with this transformative policy direction, all government offices must then ensure that their vital services are digitalized immediately,” Marcos said in his speech as he emphasized that digitalization is already a must today and will not only facilitate the ease of doing business but also combat graft and corruption.
“Digitalization is the call of today, not the call of the future, but of the present. It is here. It is needed, and it is needed today. Government must fully embrace digitalization to provide better service to the people, through its vital frontline services and its back-end functions.”
“Digitalization will support the government’s data-driven, science-based planning and decision-making. It is the greatest and most powerful tool, not just to improve ease of doing business, but also against many forms of graft and corruption,” the President said.