The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has launched its Online Reservation Assistance System (ORAS), a step toward bringing order to the currently chaotic ticketing process at ports starting this upcoming Holy Week peak travel season.
Atty. Mark Jon S. Palomar, PPA assistant manager for operations, said at launch of ORAS on Tuesday, March 24, that the system aims to provide passengers with greater certainty and convenience by allowing them to board as scheduled based on their online reservations,
Palomar said ORAS will go live on Wednesday or Thursday, initially piloted in the Batangas and Lucena ports, which have the highest passenger volumes among PPA ports. A total of 16 shipping lines operating on these routes have already signed up for the system.
Passengers only need to follow three steps to reserve a ticket. First, scan the QR code to access the ORAS reservation system. Second, choose the port, trip schedule, and travel details. Finally, confirm the reservation and save the ORAS Pass.
Passengers must present the ORAS Pass—a QR code—at the port for validation and ticket purchase. The ORAS Pass becomes invalid three hours before the vessel’s scheduled departure, after which the slot will be opened to chance passengers.
The system will also display the number of available passenger slots to prevent overbooking and overcrowding on vessels, while ensuring safe travel.Voyages will become more predictable, as shipping lines are required to commit to vessel availability and fixed schedules.
Under the agreement with the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and participating shipping lines, tickets will only be sold to passengers who present a QR code or ORAS Pass.
Internally developed by PPA and offered free of charge to both passengers and shipping lines, ORAS is a digital solution to long-standing problems experienced by Filipino passengers, especially during peak seasons. With ORAS, overcrowding, congestion, overbooking, and long lines at the pier are expected to be significantly reduced.
“With Oras Pass, we are basically ensuring that what they (passengers) sign up for, what they line up for, is the vessel which they will travel on. So if they go online, they see there are no available… trips on a particular day and they can only travel the day after, why will they go to the port much earlier?,” he said.
“We’re not interfering with the shipping lines. We are not selling tickets. We are ensuring that passengers get tickets because they have signed up for a particular voyage,” Palomar added.
The PPA has also set up help desks at ports for those without internet connectivity, mobile phones, or who may have difficulty registering in the system.
However, ORAS is not required for passengers who book through the shipping lines’ own online ticketing systems. It also applies only to passenger vessels or those carrying both passengers and cargo, and not to purely cargo vessels.
Palomar added that the PPA is still pursuing its proposed unified ticketing system for passenger vessels, even with the implementation of ORAS.
