TRIPKO's role in this pandemic

What is COVID-19?

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a new strain of virus first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. COVID-19 is known to target a person’s respiratory system. Those infected may exhibit symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, and in some cases, muscle pain and sore throat as stated from the Department of Health website. However, some patients may be asymptomatic. Plus, it was reported that the virus can survive on surfaces for hours which is why contact tracing and mass testing is important to contain the rapid spreading of the virus.

The Philippines government issued a memorandum for public utility vehicles to use cashless payments such as TRIPKO. TRIPKO’s role in this pandemic is to eliminate two contact points in fare payment system- manual ticketing and cash handling. Fare tickets are passed on through different channels from production, inventory, dispatch until it is issued by conductors to passengers, which will be then subject to physical check by inspectors. Second contact point is the exchange of money to pay for fare. During transit, these are held by the transport employee, and are exposed to the elements that once contaminated, will be passed on to others.

With TRIPKO, passengers will only need to tap the card on the TICKETKO mobile POS without any contact with the conductor or driver and peel off the receipt printed by the device. This receipt is a thermal paper dispatched unto to the mobile POS’ compartment and is sealed before use free from possible contamination. Moreover, the TICKETKO device can be disinfected compared to paper tickets.

Furthermore, with TRIPKO, contact tracing is automated. Passenger just needs to register their TRIPKO card and each trip will be automatically recorded. Manual logging in to the trip manifest can be eliminated which saves time and minimizes contact.

This automated ticketing system will be our “New Normal” to combat not just COVID-19 but other germs and pathogens as well.

Stay safe. Switch to contactless payment now with TRIPKO!