Students from the University of the Philippines Information Technology Development Center (UP ITDC) topped other teams from the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and the Mapua Institute of Technology in the recent 2017 #beepNation Program competition sponsored by AF Payments Incorporated (AFPI).

Awarded on 3 March 2017, the winning entry called beep™ Events is a convenient, cashless, and paperless system aims to revolutionize the payment of event tickets bought online. It consists of three products: (i) beep™ Events Android Application, (ii) beep™ Events Express Entrance Application, and (iii) beep™ Events Web Service.

The beep™ Events Android application provides a platform for ticket sellers to display events and for ticket buyers to purchase tickets using NFC-enabled Android phones and beep™ cards. The beep™ card itself will serve as the event ticket to be validated by the beep™ Events Express Entrance Terminal/ Application upon entrance to the event. The beep™ Events Web Service is responsible for the exchange of information, such as events, event information (details), and seat availability, between the partner ticketing sites and the beep™ Events applications. This presents beep™ a business opportunity to introduce not just a convenient but also an environment-friendly solution by providing a paperless and reusable ticketing system. This unique Android application can also give non-credit cardholders an option to purchase tickets online using the beep™ card, making an event available to a wider range of prospective clients.

The authors of the beep™ Events Android app are Michael Agtual, Allan de la Cruz, Marie Francesca Fernandez, Charles Gerard Serrato, and Emmanuel Tangonan—all currently enrolled as Applications Development students at the UP ITDC.

A partnership program between the academe and the private sector, #beepNation seeks to create innovative ideas for commercial applications using the beep™ payment platform. The contest intended for generating proposals focusing on innovative payment solution applications for modes of transportation, retail environment, complementing non-payment solutions, and other payment categories.

Introduced by AFPI, the beep™ card is a reloadable contactless stored value card currently being used to unify the Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS) of three rail transport lines (i.e., LRT 1, LRT 2, and MRT 3), for transport fares in select point to point (P2P) bus lines in and around Metro Manila, and to pay for toll fees in the Cavite Expressway (Cavitex).

The beep™ card is also aimed to be used in lieu of cash in some retail stores, dining, leisure and entertainment, parking, and other businesses. The beep™ system is implemented and operated by AFPI, a joint venture of the Ayala Corporation and the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.