Commuters will soon have a more seamless experience transferring from one mode of transport to another as international and local companies, including GCash and Maya, have expressed interest in managing the country’s pioneering interoperable fare collection system.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) expects multiple companies to vie for the concession to implement the Philippine Automated Fare Collection System (PAFCS) after the project received significant interest during its market-sounding conference last week.

Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said a total of 54 companies and partnerships based in the Philippines and abroad participated in the event, reflecting strong investor confidence in the project.

Among local firms, Batan said e-wallet giant GCash has relayed its interest in PAFCS, having already partnered with the DOTr for the cashless payment system across Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) stations.

Maya, PLDT Inc.’s digital bank unit, also participated in the conference as it seeks to deepen its involvement in the country’s public transport system, building on its current role in cashless payments.

Interested companies from overseas came from a wide range of countries, including China, the United States (US), Japan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland.

Batan said there is urgency in finding the best company to implement and manage PAFCS, as the concession of the current AFCS operator for Metro Manila’s railways will expire next year.

AF Payments Inc. (AFPI), the consortium behind Beep card, will have until December next year to oversee the fare collection system across the three rail lines in the capital region.

“We have to make sure that the successor concession we’re bidding out has to be in place in time for December 2027,” Batan told reporters.

The DOTr plans to open the bidding for PAFCS’ concession by the third quarter, with the award to the winning bidder expected before year-end.

Unlike the current AFCS focused solely on railways, PAFCS aims to establish a fare collection system that covers nearly all transit modes in the country, ranging from railways and buses to future transport infrastructure.

The system would comply with open-loop payment systems, making it compatible with all payment scheme types.

While the DOTr may award PAFCS to a company involved in financial technology (fintech) services, the project is designed to encourage other financial institutions to enter the transit payments space.

Based on its project briefer, PAFCS is expected to process up to 20 million transactions per day.

Under the concession, the company handling the project will be tasked with building and maintaining the on-ground gate and station fare collection infrastructure across existing and future transport lines.

Based on estimates by the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, the contract to manage PAFCS is estimated to cost ₱9.5 billion.

Batan said he expects the final project cost to remain within this range, although the DOTr official noted that it would still need approval from the interagency Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) of the Economy and Development (ED) Council.