This crowdsourced website shows a map of different gas station prices
Pump price hikes have taken effect on March 10. Ahead of this, motorists flocked to gas stations to fill up before prices soared on Tuesday.
Even days before the adjustments, gas stations across the country already reported that they were running out of fuel supplies due to a large number of customers lining up for gas while prices were still capped, according to The Philippine STAR.
As Filipinos brace for double digit increase brought about by tensions in the Middle East, staying updated about the latest fuel prices has become a must. One new website aims to take the guesswork out of comparing prices at different gas stations: MetroFuel Tracker.
Miguel Sy, a tech lead for an Australian company and a full-stack developer, created the site over the weekend because of the fuel crisis.
"I've been feeling the weight of the weekly pump price adjustments and the impending huge price hikes," he told PhilSTAR L!fe. "I got frustrated playing the guessing game of which station is actually the cheapest before filling up."
Thus, MetroFuel Tracker, which relies on crowdsourced data, was born.
The site is easy to navigate. On its homepage, you can select a city to see nearby gas stations, and you'll be taken to a map with buttons for the different locations near you. Their color-coded depending on whether prices are below, near, or above average. When it's grayed out, it means there's no data. You can filter brands as well as fuel type by your preference.
When you click on a station, you'll see a tab showing current prices for different fuel types, which are based on the latest data from the Department of Energy, as per Sy. Some entries are labeled with "DOE official price," which Sy said acts as an official benchmark for the week.
"Since individual stations can still adjust their pump prices, the crowdsourced updates reflect the actual prices on the ground. Once a user logs a price at that station, the DOE label is replaced with the community's real-time update," he said.
Sy told L!fe that more than 500 individuals have contributed to the site so far, with some users submitting multiple entries to help keep the information current.
Those who want to contribute reports can simply tap on a gas station and click the pencil icon on the right side. Anybody can contribute, and there's no need to log in or create an account. The exact date and time of the submission are shown so other motorists can see how recent the data is.
Sy shared that MetroFuel Tracker makes sure data is accurate with a two-layered approach: official data and technical guardrails with community self-correction.
"I started by seeding the platform with official fuel prices from major brands that publicly released their pricing. The foundation of the map is always grounded in verified, official data," he said. "From there, the community helps keep prices updated, especially for independent."
"To maintain reliability [and] help maintain accuracy, the platform uses geofence validation. The platform requires users to enable their device location and be within a 5-km radius of the gas station to submit a fuel price update," he added.
"Each entry also shows a timestamp of the last update so users can see how recent the information is. In addition, the community can downvote entries that look inaccurate so they can be flagged."
You can visit MetroFuel Tracker via mobile or desktop.
The conflict in the Middle East began when Israel, in coordination with the US, launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, taking out Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Retaliatory attacks have upended the region, as well as markets across the globe.