Stored Value

Since I ride the trains very frequently, the Stored Value Ticket (SVT) is very handy for me. The tiny, floppy 3.25 x 2” card saves me the hassle of lining up for tickets, which is an additional 5-15mins (depending on the scenario) to my commute time. And for someone who thinks every second counts, that’s valuable time poorly spent (come on, I don’t even buy from the 5 convenience stores I pass through every morning, with their tempting fare of C2, ciggies, and assorted lip-smacking morning munchies). It is available in a P100 denomination, which means it averages 8 rides. That’s around 40 – 120 minutes saved. Not bad, really. The SVT is a savior.

There are times, though, when the SVT unavailable. The ticket drought brings me misery, and THIS PISSES ME OFF BIG TIME.

The demand exceeds the supply, so you see why SVTs are, from time to time, unavailable. Why the demand is high, it’s obvious for very practical, sensible reasons. Why the supply is low, I don’t know. You can’t even get them in bulk. You can’t stash those things – you have two expiry dates/times to think about. First is that they have a strict window from the time purchase from the first use, and if you don’t use it within that time frame the ticket gets expired. Second, the ticket is good for only 6 months from first use. These limitations make it unrealistic to bulk up on tickets for future use. It’s a “the present” thing, no hoarding for the future. Was it a wrong forecast with the number of passengers that would purchase the STV? Is it inefficiency with card collection from the card machines, since all the maxed-out SVTs are all unproductively stockpiled there? Is there an unequal distribution for the SVTs per station, since ideally the number of SVTs should ratio the number of SVT-buying passengers per station? And while I’m doing the ranting questions drama, can I just ask why can’t they produce a SVT in a higher denomination? It won’t save me money, but it will save me the hassle of repeatedly buying tickets every so often (or so very often).

I hate lines and I hate waiting. The train ticket line is a horrible combo of both – throw in ventilation problems, sweat stench, and nasty people just to boot. Plus you’re stuck with the helpless feeling that you have no choice but to wait – that’s the worst. For the daily commuters, if you take the bus, it’s going to take much longer, since buses are slower and are subject to traffic and passenger stops. If you take the cab, you’ll end up spending something like 1500% of what you originally intended to spend for transportation (I’m serious about this percentage, but this is relative you your pick-up and drop-off station). If you’re doing a one shot deal and have a lot of either time or moolah, you have the said options to pick from. But to the daily toilers, there’s little to no choice. Just paranoid thoughts, mostly about getting fired because you came in too late for work, or missing something so major in the office that they had to fire you. Egad.

Template characters in a ticket line:
Ladies fanning furiously
Dudes scanning the area for chicks
People chilling to their music players
Noisy people
Nosy people
Men profusely sweating


“Bakit hindi pa nila tayo binebentahan? Ayaw ba nila ng pera?” (“Why are they not selling? Don’t they want money?”), asks a sweaty, swear-y little teener beside me. To you dear, I have no answers. Inasmuch as I hate it, I’m sure there’s a reason behind the SVT drought, a reason so simple that if we knew about it, we’d uproar in the mere pettiness of the problem, but at the same time be dumbstruck when tasked with a solution. I cannot defend the train. I can only wait to finally get into that magical platform and board.