The Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced that the rollout of discounted student beep cards for LRT-1, LRT-2, and MRT-3 will commence on September 20, following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to make public transportation more affordable for students.
The initiative, which grants students an automatic 50 percent fare discount, was originally slated for an earlier launch but faced brief delays due to system issues. According to Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez, these technical concerns have now been resolved.
“I have instructed our team to immediately resolve the system issues because I know that student passengers have been waiting for this for a long time. If we have to stay up late, we will not sleep so that we can launch it immediately,” Lopez said in a statement.
The DOTr also confirmed that on-the-spot printing of white beep cards — which includes those for students, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) — will begin on the same day. This move significantly cuts the processing time from the previous 7–10 days to just a few minutes.
The white beep card serves as the official discount card for qualified passengers across Metro Manila’s major rail lines.
