Ticket to Ride
As the LRT reopened, JP Gabriel and the Beep team raced to install contactless payment for safer, more convenient journeys
Words by MARGA CONSTANTINO
The lifting of the ECQ meant one thing for the Beep team—that it was their turn to venture into the outside world. A few weeks before LRT-1 resumed its services, JP Gabriel, 36, and his team set aside their fears for their own safety to restart the Beep system at LRMC train stations. They faced the challenge head on, knowing it was important for the public to have a safer means to commute.
1
JP Gabriel pulls up to Roosevelt Station on his motorcycle to check on the Beep terminal before commuters arrive. Before the GCQ started, JP—Beep’s Maintenance Supervisor—traveled to each LRT-1 station on his motorcycle to restart the Beep system before LRMC resumed its railway services. He and his team had already made significant progress when a storm shut down their system once more. Determined to finish the job, the team geared up and started all over again. They managed to restart the Beep system just in time for the reopening of LRT-1.
2
JP’s teammates wear protective gear while working together to restore Beep services in LRT-1 stations. JP is extremely grateful to his company for looking after him and his team during this difficult time. Beep’s management made sure to issue PPEs, face masks, and face shields that could help them stay safe at work. Amongst themselves, JP and his team made sure to look after one another even before they undertook this huge project. While planning the resumption of train services, the team would conduct regular meetings to strategize, and they would allot time to ask how everyone was doing.
3
Commuters enter the LRT-1 station using their Beep cards to make contactless payments. Keeping the riding public safe in their train stations was JP’s biggest motivation. He saw Beep as a useful tool in conducting safer payments as people went about their lives during the pandemic. To JP, maintaining the Beep system was just one more way that he could help people go to work and get home safely.
4
JP rests on a Beep terminal by the turnstiles at an LRT-1 station. Restarting the Beep terminals was an exhausting undertaking for JP and his team, but he feels an immense responsibility towards the commuting public. Moreover, he feels an even bigger responsibility to stay well so that he does not bring home the virus to his family. “Kakaiba kasi first time itong nangyari, at maraming nagbago sa pamumuhay tulad ng paglabas. Need lang talaga mag-stay sa bahay kung kaya para sa kapakanan ng pamilya ko at kaligtasan ko ng buo mundo,” he said. #
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
