Not sure how much a jeepney, tricycle, or train ride in Metro Manila costs these days? Good news: There’s an app for that! With the various transport fare hikes, it’s hard to keep track of how much cash you need to have on hand for your daily commute. Clueless commuters can easily be overcharged or shortchanged, especially when traveling unfamiliar routes.
Enter PresyoByahe, a locally developed app that helps daily commuters know if they’re paying the right fare. Described as the “ultimate pocket companion for public transit in Metro Manila,” the app lists official fares and compiles essential commuter information.
As shared by the Iskolar ng Bayan page on Facebook: “The application uses location and mapping technology to estimate fares based on transportation mode and travel distance. It also provides fare-matrix information for different modes of transportation, alongside train information, Pasig River Ferry schedules, traffic conditions, and weather information.”
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It’s a handy reference and fare calculator, particularly for students, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens who are entitled to mandatory 20% fare discounts on covered public transportation services. It’s also helpful for regular commuters, tourists from provinces, and international travelers who may be unfamiliar with how much they need to pay.
With this app, anyone can check live fare matrices accredited by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and recognized by the Department of Transportation. According to the developers, PresyoByahe doesn’t just track fares, but was also built to “champion commuters’ rights to help people avoid being overcharged.”
Based on their Google App listing, here’s what the PresyoByahe app provides:
We’ve installed and browsed through the app to check it out. The interface is simple, intuitive, and easy to use.
Under Mode of Transport, you can check how much fares cost on trains from station to station. For the three train lines (LRT-1, LRT-2, and MRT-3), there’s an option to toggle between payment modes to check fares if you’re paying by Single Journey Ticket, regular Beep card, or discounted Beep card (student, PWD, or senior).
The app also displays minimum fare rates for jeepneys, city buses, PUBs (ordinary), and provincial buses, the flag-down rates of regular taxis, TNVS, UV Express, and tricycles, and the fare on the EDSA Carousel, so you can easily calculate which transport combination would be the most affordable.
To test it out, I calculated different modes of transport I’ve taken lately. If you’re headed to Mall of Asia from Quezon City, there’s the option to use the EDSA Carousel Bus all the way. However, riding from Kamuning Station to MOA by EDSA Carousel costs P52 at the regular rate. While the trip is direct, travel time can sometimes take longer because of passenger loading times and traffic choke points.
If you take the MRT from Kamuning to One Ayala, it only costs P12, and the trip is usually faster. From One Ayala, you can switch to the EDSA Carousel headed to MOA and only pay P18.75, for a total of P30.75. While it may not seem like much for some, for daily commuters, the extra savings of P21.25 per way could make a big difference in a week.
If you’re entitled to discounts but bad at math, the app automatically lists the discounted rates as well. Under Republic Act No. 9944 (Senior Citizens), Republic Act No. 9442 (persons with disabilities), and Republic Act No. 10931 (students), eligible passengers are entitled to a mandatory 20% discount on all road-transport modes upon presenting a valid school- or government-issued ID.
Another interesting feature of the app is the live tracker for the Pasig River Ferry Service, which offers free rides along Pasig River from Pinagbuhatan to Escolta and back. Here you can see which station the ferry is at (in real time), as well as the operating schedule and requirements to ride.
Another tab on the app shows the updated official fare matrices for 2026 as mandated by the LTFRB. The matrix for city buses, ordinary buses, point-to-point buses, and more shows the base fares for regular and discounted rides, and additional fees per succeeding kilometer.
The app also lists the operating hours for some modes of transport, showing the 24/7 service windows and frequency schedules for the EDSA Carousel as published in the LTFRB Route Guide.
Interestingly, there’s no big company behind this transport app. As shared on the Iskolar ng Bayan Facebook page, the app was developed by an 18-year-old freshman IT student to help fellow commuters pay fair fares.
Jullian Rob B. Ong, a first-year BS Information Technology student at National Teachers College, repeatedly experienced questionable fares during his own daily commute and turned to digital solutions to solve the problem. Ong developed PresyoByahe, an Android application designed to help Filipino commuters check transportation fares and access useful travel information in one place.
As per Iskolar ng Bayan: “Ong’s idea grew from his daily commute between his home in Marikina and the nearest LRT-2 station. As a student with limited allowance, he experienced being asked to pay P35 to P50 for tricycle trips of less than two kilometers, prompting him at times to walk instead to save transportation money.”
The project was personal for Ong, as a student with a hearing disability. He shared instances when asking a driver to repeat the fare resulted in him “hearing a different, sometimes higher amount the second time.”
The student drew on his programming skills to create PresyoByahe for transparency and to give fellow commuters a convenient reference for their trips. While current government programs require official fare matrices or guides posted in public transport and public utility vehicles, not all of these are clearly readable or updated. Having information easily accessible on an app is essential for commuters. Kudos to this IT student developer for putting his programming skills to good use and taking the initiative to do this!
PresyoByahe is available on the Google Play Store. Download it here. You can support the developer for his work directly through the app.
