MMDA starts using ticketing machines

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) goes tech-savvy in enforcing traffic beginning today with the launch of portable ticketing machines (PTMs) or Field Digital Assistant (FDA) to replace the manual ticketing system.

MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando said 14 traffic enforcement teams armed with the FDA will work on EDSA and other major thoroughfares.

The Italian-made PTMs cost about P80,000 each.

Fernando said training of 60 additional traffic enforcers on the use of the device is ongoing.

Resembling an oversized cellular phone complete with a stylus, FDA 600’s PTM automatically reads information from an apprehended driver’s license through its 2D scanner.

It is also equipped with a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) reader. The RFID is a microchip that the MMDA installs on every bus on EDSA to track and monitor their movements.

The traffic enforcer only has to input the motorist’s type of traffic violation. The machine will then print out the Metro Traffic Ticket that contains the violator’s name, driver’s license number, violation, and the fine to be paid at any branch of Metrobank.

The MMDA said the mobile ticketing program would also simplify the issuance of citation ticket as well as expedite verification of driver’s license.

Traffic enforcers need only to swipe the driver’s license to his portable ticket machine to determine if the driver has previous unsettled violations.

"We will know for sure if the driver is using a fake driver’s license or fake traffic ticket," Fernando said.

He said any attempt by the traffic enforcer to alter or correct any entries in the machine-issued traffic ticket will be impossible since the machine automatically records the transaction.

The machines are going to be inter-linked with the Metrobase, the MMDA’s central traffic monitoring center located at the agency’s Makati office.
– Ashzel Hachero

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