If time is money, why are we still waiting in line?

Recently, I watched a movie starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried called “In Time.” It imagines a future where time becomes the currency. Literally, instead of money, people pay for everyday necessities, transportation, and even earn their wages in hours and minutes.

Imagine buying a cup of coffee and watching a few minutes disappear from your lifespan. Imagine working an entire day to earn enough time to survive another day, while some die because they literally ran out of time. Comparable to this world, the movie depicted people living with only a few hours left on their clocks, while the wealthy enjoy practically unlimited time, protected from the desperation that drives the poor to bargain away their lives just to get by.

In the real world, we are constantly reminded that time is precious. I remember someone telling me that anyone can have all the beautiful things in the world, but it means nothing if there’s no one to spend your time with to enjoy these things.

They say the greatest gift you can give someone is your time because, unlike money, it is something you can never earn back once spent. You can replace a lost wallet, recover from a bad investment, and make up for a mistake but the hours you lose trying to make things right with someone, sitting in traffic, or waiting in a line? Nah, those are gone.

We don’t have unlimited time on earth, yet somehow we have become complacent just wasting it, while some others don’t have a choice to begin with.

Like traveling through our ports, for instance, there’s always a rush to the terminal, the uncertainty of schedules, the long lines at ticket counters, and the occasional feeling that you have already spent half your vacation before the trip has even begun.

And with Undas approaching, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is preparing for another busy travel period. The agency expects approximately 1.93-million passengers to pass through the ports nationwide from 27 October to 5 November, about 1.55-percent higher than the 1.90-million passengers recorded last year.

This is where the PPA’s Online Reservation Assistance System, or ORAS, comes into the picture. Beginning 24 October, ORAS will once again be implemented at the ports of Lucena, Balanacan, Calapan and Batangas, allowing passengers to check vessel schedules, select their preferred travel times, and submit the necessary information through an online platform by following three simple steps: Scan, Choose, Reserve.

ORAS was first implemented from 30 March to 8 April this year during the Holy Week travel period. Now, I know what some people might say. Another online system? Another QR code to scan?

In a country where not everyone has reliable internet access or feels comfortable navigating digital platforms, these are fair questions. Help desks are available of course and free wifi as well.

Digitalization must make travel easier, not create another obstacle for people who are trying to get somewhere, but that is precisely why these initiatives deserve attention.

The answer to the challenges of modernization cannot always be to stick to the old ways simply because they are familiar. If we can improve on a process, reduce unnecessary waiting, and give passengers more control over their schedules, why shouldn’t we try it?

Credit is due to PPA general manager Jay Santiago for pushing the agency toward digital solutions and encouraging a more forward-looking approach to port management. The bigger picture is not merely about introducing an online reservation platform for one holiday season. It is about recognizing that the needs of passengers are changing, that technology can help address longstanding operational challenges, and that public service must keep moving forward with them.

That’s why good leadership is not always about grand announcements or expensive infrastructure. Sometimes it is about looking at an everyday inconvenience and asking a simple question: is there a better way to do this?

And while ORAS is not a solution to every problem a passenger might encounter, it is a step toward a more organized and digitally enabled travel experience, and perhaps that is the real lesson of “In Time.”

It is about how much of their time we can save for them. Because if time is the one currency we all spend, regardless of how much money we have in our pockets, then making public services more efficient is not merely a matter of convenience, it is a way of respecting the lives of the people we serve. Because after all, in a world where time is precious, shouldn’t our public services be designed to help us spend less of it waiting?

For we are all in the same boat — just different time zones!