The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has finally rolled out a digital platform that will assist millions of ship passengers in avoiding the hassles in securing tickets especially during peak season when long queues and port congestion are annual scenarios. 

Dubbed as the Online Reservation Assistance System or ORAS, the digital travel booking platform will be tested in time for the Holy Week exodus that is expected to start as early as Wednesday next week.

But lawyer Mark Palomar, PPA Assistant General Manager for Operations, said pilot testing will be done first for travelers to and from the Lucena City port and to and from the Batangas City Port— two of the busiest ports in the country.

"This is the solution which the PPA has come up with,” said Palomar, citing the usual complaints of long queues and other problems that port passengers face during peak season like Christmas, Holy Week and Undas, or All Saints and All Souls Days.

But Palomar was quick to clarify that the ORAS is not connected with any shipping lines, explaining that the digital platform is only meant for the booking process to avoid long lines in ports.

“We're not interfering with the shipping lines and we are not selling tickets. They (shipping lines) are the ones selling tickets,” said Palomar.

How it works 

Palomar said the use of ORAS is simplified into three steps for easy use and comfort for passengers: Scan, Choose and Reserve.

ORAS has a QR Code that can be scanned using smart phones, which will later bring the user to a page where he/she could choose the date and time of the ship travel and the port of embarkation and destination. 

The QR Code is available either at the ports or social media platforms of the PPA. Users can also go directly to the website, oras.ppa.com.ph, for access. 

The users will then be directed to a page for passenger registration where they will be asked to provide basic personal details.

Palomar stressed that users must either upload a valid identification card in the same page, or take a selfie for verification during the purchase of the ticket.

He also emphasized the need to provide an email address where the OTP (or one-time password) is needed for verification during the reservation of the day and time of the travel.

Palomar said that the validity of the reservation is until three hours before the scheduled departure of the passenger vessel. 

For not so techie passengers or those with no smart phones, Palomar said passenger assistance desks will be set up at the port to assist the passengers in using the ORAS digital platform. 

PPA advised passengers who would avail of the ORAS that the system will never send any clickable link to protect the users from scammers. 

Long overdue 

The PPA leadership has been pushing for online ticketing as a permanent and long-term solution to the annual hardships that port passengers go through in ports especially during peak season.

The e-ticketing system is one of the digitalization efforts of the PPA intended to provide passengers with convenient travel experience in the ports.  

But the implementation of the online ticketing system was delayed and later shelved due to some “factors” and left most passengers with no option but to buy tickets right in the ports.

This led to the annual problem of port congestion.

Useful 

ORAS is seen as a way of addressing fixer problems and cutting the long queues of passengers leading to the port entrances, the usual scenarios seen during peak season.

"Those who signed up with the system are guaranteed to ride in that particular time slot. You will be given a QR code or you can get it from the help desk that we will set up and the validity of that QR code is up to 3 hours prior to the departure,” said Palomar.

PPA is expected to test the system starting either Wednesday, March 25, or Thursday, March 26, for the passengers going to and from Lucena City port and the Batangas City port.

The digital platform is expected to be used nationwide once the pilot testing is done and proved to be working and hassle-free.