Thursday, December 07, 2006

The G-PASS Ordeal

A few months ago, my friend Chippy introduced me to G-PASS -- supposedly a more convenient way to pay MRT fares as opposed to buying tickets. Although I’m no longer a frequent MRT commuter, I was thrilled with the prospect of not having to worry about the endless queue for tickets when I needed to travel by train. After all, the prepaid tickets sold by the MRT expired after a few months taking whatever credits were left with it.

My first few tries with G-PASS were successful; I was happy with Globe’s seemingly wonderful product. The company I worked for envisioned something very similar a few years back and although we were not the ones who were able to launch such a product, I was happy to see it finally happen as it does makes life a little bit easier for the commuters out there. But is it a reliable service?

I had to attend a workshop in Makati last November 8-10 and the MRT was still the best way to get there from Quezon City. I tapped my G-PASS on the sensor but I didn’t hear the usual beep and I couldn’t get through. I tried tapping again on the other available turnstile but got the same results. I saw there was an extra sensor near the emergency gate so I told the guard about my problem and inquired if they could have my G-PASS checked. He said he "knew nothing about it and that G-PASS wasn’t their service". I couldn’t let this ruin my day so I followed the guard’s instructions to just buy a ticket and proceeded to join the queue. When I got ahead of the line, I threw the same set of questions to the teller. She threw back the same set of replies I received from the guard earlier. After buying a ticket and finally getting through, the guard’s closing remarks were “The sensor is defective. G-PASS should’ve put a sign there to indicate that”.

I got off at the Buendia station. I was worried about leaving my G-PASS with an open open transaction that would cost me a whole lot more than the necessary fare so I tapped on the sensor hoping that this would register an exit if my earlier entry attempt was recorded as successful. The turnstile didn’t allow me through so I had to use my ticket. I politely asked the guard if they could check my G-PASS credits after recounting my experience in the Quezon Ave. station. This time I wasn’t so surprised with the answer he gave.

I felt a bit of hope when I saw that the Globe G-PASS store in this station was already open. I told the guy behind the counter about my whole ordeal and asked if he could check my chip. He confirmed my earlier fear about paying a whole lot more if the transaction was left open. Apparently, the sensor in Quezon Ave. was working because the chip registered that I went through that station. I was relieved to find out I was able to avoid paying more but I still felt bad about the whole thing because I ended up paying double!

My friend Chippy encountered the same problem on several occasions. He said the guards and tellers kept telling him that they, the MRT, didn’t even earn anything from the use of G-PASS . He felt obliged to tell them that the opposite was true. There was only a single occasion when he was glad the guards at the Magallanes station knew what they had to do. Techno-stress is what Chippy prefers to label his whole experience.

I hope Globe Telecom and the MRT Management get their act together. I hope that the next time the same thing happens to me, the guards would know exactly how to proceed. I also hope that no G-PASS store would ever run out of credits to sell like what I once encountered in the Ayala station.

Again and again, the MRT employees talked about G-PASS as some third party they had nothing to do with. It appeared to me that they looked at G-PASS as something that merely existed to take away part of their revenues and possibly add to their everyday troubles. Why couldn’t they put the defective sign themselves? Why do they not wonder what the extra sensor near the emergency exit is for? Why weren’t they thoroughly briefed about the protocol in such cases?

Chippy says, " G-PASS works 90% of the time, which, isn’t really great." I have to agree with him.

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