Kung ang halaga ng Beep Card ay P80, katumbas lang ito ng government fare subsidy sa isang MRT passenger na sasakay sa Cubao papuntang Baclaran at pabalik.

Isang round trip lang.

Saan aabot ang P80 pesos? Kung ito ay Beep Card at ibibigay sa bus and jeepney riders, maaring one to sawa. Kung gagamitin sa MRT, dalawang sakay lang.

In 2018, MRT ferried 104.28 million passengers. That same year, it received P4.66 billion in government subsidy, which was used to pay for two-thirds of total rental equity payments of P7.23 billion.

So how much is the government subsidy per ride? About P45.

MRT ticket sales in 2018 reached P2.07 billion. Not enough for the operations and obligations of this EDSA light rail line.

At present, subsidy fuels mass transport, courtesy of taxpaying masses, including those who have never seen a train.

This principle is reiterated in this year’s P6 billion appropriated subsidy to MRT. When farebox income falls short of financial obligations, the deficit is shouldered by the subsidy.

Same is true with PNR. For this year, we have given it P1.86 billion in subsidy, seven times bigger than its farebox collection of P255 million in 2018.

Kahit sabihin po natin na ipamimigay ng libre ang Beep Card—o kahit anong cashless payment card gawa man ng pribado o gobyerno—sa 500,000 commuters, ang kabuuang halaga ay aabot lamang ng P40 million o katumbas ng dalawa at kalahating araw na budgeted subsidy para sa MRT ngayong taon.

So, if we are generous to corporations, the more we should be to small jeepney and bus operators.

The other fiscal perspective that argues for free cards is that the P40 million is a tiny one-fifth of one percent of the P20.71 billion that a generous DOTR voluntarily cut from its 2019 and 2020 budgets and turned over to the government’s anti-COVID fight.

With these numbers as clear as daylight, hindi na po kailangan bumusina pa ang Pangulo at ni Secretary Tugade bago ituloy ang napakagandang programang libreng cashless payment card sa mga commuter.

Full speed ahead, mga Sirs!(###)