Students and Persons With Disabilities who wanted to avail of the 50 percent discount on Stored Value Card, otherwise known as Beep Card, had to endure more than 10 hours of waiting time before they were able to get their respective card pass for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) trains.

Julia, a female student at Philippine Women’s University (PWU) in Manila who is a resident of Antipolo City, said she started lining up at the Antipolo Station of LRT 2 at Masinag in Antipolo as early as 6 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21 but it was already past 5 p.m. and she had yet to get hold of the white-colored Beep Card.

She told Manila Bulletin that in the afternoon on Saturday, Sept. 20, she went from one LRT Station to another in the hope of getting the Beep Card but the station security personnel told her that the cards had already been sold out due to the large number of buyers on that day.

“ After my classes, I went to Doroteo Jose Station of LRT Line 1, Recto Station and Pasig-Marikina Stations respectively of LRT Line 2, only to be told that there were no more Beep Cards left so I went home and returned the following day,” Julia, who was already fifth in line before her turn to be in front of the table of the issuer of the Beep Card, told this reporter.

For Jun and Sam, both residents of Antipolo City, and also studying at a Manila university said, it was such an experience enduring the more than 10 hours of queuing for the much sought-after discounted train pass as the fifty percent discount is a great help for students like them.

“Even though the waiting time was too long, the LRT station security personnels allowed us to temporarily leave the line just to buy food and snacks and eat while we waited at the queueing area,” Jun told the Manila Bulletin.

At the MIA Road Station of LRT Line 1, Charles Christian Gopengco, a freshman medical student at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, said he and his fellow students were hoping that the LRT Management and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) would deploy more personnel to process their application for the discounted Beep Card.

The release of the discounted Beep Card started on Sept. 20 as ordered by the DOTr.

This reporter learned that only one personnel was manning the desk designated for the Beep Card issuance in the LRT 1 and 2 stations.

The students and PWDs who were interviewed by this reporter all said that they hoped that the DOTr should add more personnel to prevent the long waiting hours that the passengers availing of the discounted cards had to endure.