LRT-1 operator partners with Bayad Center

Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) is teaming up with Bayad Center to accommodate bills payment transactions in one of the stations of Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1).

In a statement Friday, the LRT-1 operator said it has inked a partnership with the outsourced payment collection company to turn a ticket booth at the LRT-1 Balintawak station into a Bayad Center lane.

Through the designated bills payment facility, commuters may pay more than 300 types of bills such as utilities, telecommunications and cable, government contributions and loan payments, and airline ticketing.

Eventually, the two companies plan to put up Bayad Center lanes in LRT-1 stations at EDSA, Gil Puyat and Doroteo Jose, among others.

“We are glad to finally launch this initiative as it is in line with our goal to make the LRT-1 network a one-stop shop for our commuters’ needs-not just their need to travel through Metro Manila,” LRMC President and CEO Juan F. Alfonso said in the statement.

“As we add more and more payment touchpoints for the public, this ultimately helps by lessening one’s visit to several establishments for errands, minimizing the risk of virus contact… We look forward to scaling this up in all our train stations soon…” Bayad Center President and CEO Lawrence Y. Ferrer added.

LRMC is a consortium of Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s (MPIC) Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.

MPIC is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Denise A. Valdez