Good news for Pinoy commuters: You can now buy your Beep card online and have it delivered straight to your doorstep! Those taking the LRT and MRT daily know the struggle of looking for reloadable Beep cards these days. They’ve been out of stock for the past few months leaving Pinoys to stand in long lines for Single Journey Tickets. Having it available online is certainly good news but some have strong words to say about that price tag.

Here’s where to buy a Beep card online

Beep cards are now available in Shopee, Lazada, and Facebook Marketplace for P188. Before this, Beep cards can only be purchased from teller’s booths, Ticket Vending Machines, select Ministop branches, P2P bus terminals, and select Modern Jeepney partners. So if you’re still looking for one, you can go ahead and add to cart!

But some are shocked at the price

Netizens quickly pointed out that if you buy a Beep card from a train station, you would have to pay P100 and it would already come pre-loaded with P70. But now, buying online has you paying a P188 fee for a card that comes without any initial balance. Add the standard P38 shipping fee and you have to pay a total of P226.

“No load tapos 188 pesos plus shipping? [Lord] help this country,” reacted one netizen.

“I am so f*cking mad. Hindi lang sa hindi tayo mabigyan ng bare minimum at makataong public transport, dinadagdagan pa yung barriers for everyone,” said another on Twitter. “Public transport is public service, Bakit pinipilit nyong gawing revenue generating yan,” they added.

Another shared that the Beep cards available at the BGC-Ayala bus terminal sell for P200 and comes with a P75 load. But even if they paid P125, that’s still better than P188 for an empty card.

“Kalokohan, yung easytrip, auto sweep, even starbucks card nga kung magkano pagkabili mo sa card, yun ang initial load. This should come with Php188 load!” said another netizen.

And some are also unhappy about the expiry date

Some are also questioning the expiry date of these cards which is indicated to be July 2025. If you buy them now, that’s only three years of usage. Normally, Beep cards are valid for four years with an option to extend for more. One netizen even recounted that they used to be valid for six years.

“Tapos [if I recall correctly] 2025 yung expiry ng cards na yan. Luh yung beep card ko nga nung 2017 ko pa binili 2023 ang expiry, so 6 years validity. Nakakag*go,” said one netizen.

Pinoys suggest alternatives

Other netizens took it upon themselves to suggest ways to make everyone’s lives easier, such as selling the cards at convenience stores or via vending machines.

After all, if countries like Japan and South Korea can have transport cards available in any convenience store, maybe we could too?

Another suggested allowing credit card payments, similar to how they do it in countries like Singapore. Instead of a Beep card, you can tap your credit or debit card instead.

This way, no one needs to pay P100+ for a card without an initial load.

Where can you use your Beep card?

Despite its shocking price online, Beep cards are useful for those who need to go to war daily (a.k.a. take public transportation). They can be used for fare payments in LRT-1, LRT-2, MRT-3, Point-to-Point (P2P) buses, and Modern PUVs nationwide. You can also use it to pay for Cebu Ferries and is accepted in select partner convenience stores, and LRT-1 Stalls.

How do you reload a Beep card?

There are multiple ways to reload a Beep card. The easiest one is to have it reloaded from the train teller’s booth or at Ticket Vending Machines at train stations. You can also have it reloaded at Beep partner merchants and kiosks. But the most convenient one is to do it online via apps like BPI, Maya, GCash, and ShopeePay.

What do you think about the Beep card online price? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

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