Founded in 2021 as a response to both health concerns around the pandemic and the nationwide public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program, DyipPay is an app-based automated fare collection system designed specifically for public utility transport groups and the daily commuters that rely on them.
This month, DyipPay will begin onboarding a pilot group of Central Luzon-based PUV drivers as part of an ongoing partnership with Region III’s Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) that would see 25,000 cooperative-affiliated drivers using DyipPay’s mobile app within the first quarter of this year.
DyipPay proposes a cashless and cardless alternative to the manual fare collection system that has become synonymous with commuting via PUVs, like jeepneys. Instead of the pakiabot system of passing fare from passenger to passenger up to the driver, DyipPay’s mobile app allows commuters to top-up their e-wallets, digitally pay for their rides, and even signal drivers to make a stop when they need to hop off—all from their smartphones. Meanwhile, drivers can monitor earnings and manage passengers from their own mobile dashboards. Transport operator groups have their own dashboard as well, from which they can designate vehicle routes and track the financial performance of their fleets on daily, weekly, monthly, and annual bases. DyipPay charges transaction fees on e-wallet top-ups from riders and cash-outs from jeepney drivers, then shares profits with affiliate cooperatives.
By utilizing this suite of complementary mobile app dashboards, DyipPay avoids the often expensive hardware requirements for the tap-to-pay systems commonly seen across higher-end transit systems in metropolitan areas. It’s for this reason that, last October, the Department of Information and Communication Technology named DyipPay the regional champion for Central Luzon at the 2021 Philippine Startup Challenge.
In addition to the DICT, Central Luzon’s local LTFRB also took notice, signing a formal endorsement of DyipPay’s automated fare collection system last November. Following this partnership, the startup has been in talks with the region’s top transportation cooperatives to onboard roughly 25,000 affiliated drivers this quarter, beginning with an initial pilot group to be onboarded in the next two weeks.
According to Eric Tan, DyipPay’s founder and CEO, the team expects to also reach a community of roughly one million riders within the first quarter of 2022. Tan says that DyipPay is actively raising a seed round to fuel its continued growth across the Philippines, with expansion plans to service Cebu in the second quarter of the year, and eventually to Metro Manila in 2023.