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The Philippine Ports Authority’s online reservation system for inter-island ship passengers is temporarily not available as it is going under system maintenance following the completion of its pilot implementation
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The Online Reservation Assistance System or ORAS completed its pilot implementation during the recent peak travel season on April 8
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Passengers are advised to directly transact with their shipping lines to buy tickets
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PPA will make an official announcement for the resumption of ORAS’ implementation
The Philippine Ports Authority’s (PPA) online reservation system for inter-island ship passengers is temporarily not available as it is undergoing maintenance following the completion of its pilot implementation.
PPA in an advisory on April 10 said its Online Reservation Assistance System (ORAS) completed its pilot implementation during the recent peak travel season on April 8 and is now undergoing system maintenance to further improve the service.
With this, passengers are advised to directly transact with their shipping lines to buy tickets.
PPA will make an official announcement for the resumption of ORAS’ implementation.
Launched on March 24, ORAS is a system developed in-house by PPA to provide an electronic reservation and queuing mechanism that allows users to secure a scheduled slot prior to proceeding to the port. It officially went live on March 26.
READ: PPA launches Online Reservation Assistance System
ORAS is intended to reduce the need for users to physically line up or wait at the terminal, prevent overcrowding and disorderly queues, and ensure the orderly, efficient, and systematic processing of reservations and related services.
“What we’re trying to solve here is the perennial problem which we’ve been seeing in the ports during peak seasons–passengers go to the ports without tickets; they line for hours with the hope of securing a seat on the next available vessel,” PPA assistant general manager for operations Mark Jon Palomar said in a press briefing on March 24.
“ORAS changes that. It introduces structure, predictability, and fairness into the system. Our passengers will no longer need to gamble their time and comfort just to secure a ticket,” he added.
Palomar noted though that ORAS is not a ticketing but a reservation system that ensures passengers a slot in their selected shipping schedule.
Moreover, shipping lines using their own ticketing systems need not join ORAS.
