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MRT-3 free rides end on last day of Duterte administration
MRT-3 free rides end on last day of Duterte administration
Jacque Manabat,
ABS-CBN News
Published Jun 23, 2022 08:41 PM PHT
Commuters enter the Metro Rail Transit-Line 3 North Avenue Station during as they take advantage of the free train rides implemented by the government. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/file
MANILA - The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) is preparing its systems to collect fares as its free ride service ends on June 30.
The management said the foregone P6.2 million pesos in daily revenue can only be sustained until the end of the Duterte administration.
"Gustuhin man naming i-extend yan, ang aming termino ay kasabay ng pagtapos ng termino ni President Duterte, which is June 30. Anumang extension niya, ibinibigay namin sa bagong administrasyon kung itutuloy nila o hindi… Meron naman tayong regular operations budget. Tuloy-tuloy yan and pagdating sa dulo, kung kakapusin tayo by last quarter, saka kami magre-request sa Kongreso ng additional budget, which is normally naman ay ibinibigay yan," MRT-3 General Manager and Director for Operations Michael Capati said Thursday.
Since the free rides started on March 28, the railways have lost around P450 million.
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The daily average of MRT-3 riders went up 380,000 from 250,000, or a jump of more than 50 percent when the railways offered the free ride service. MRT management said free rides are not sustainable if conducted in an extended period.
"Ang gobyerno natin ngayon ay limited ang funding at limited din ang budget because of the pandemic. Kung fully free ride? Talagang mabigat, unless the government could really give us the budget, bakit hindi? Pero kailangan naman any entity naman kailangan din namin ma-sustain din naman na magkaroon kami ng additional revenue para di kami dependent sa (national) gobyerno)," Capati said.
MRT-3 loses an average of P18 pesos per rider. The foregone revenues would mean additional savings for the rider. Passengers said they were able to set aside extra cash for other expenses such as food.
An end-to-end two-way trip or North-Taft stations costs P56, enough to buy a kilo of rice.
"BIlang isang pamilyadong tao, napakalaking bagay po yung ibabayad ko… pambili po ng pang-araw-araw sa pamilya," commuter Noel Custodio said.
The idea of the free ride offer started when the railway's management wanted to test and show off the newly rehabilitated MRT-3 systems to the public.
The MRT-3 rehabilitation project was the biggest completed Build Build Build program, worth P21 billion. For three months, the railways could sustain a shorter headway of 4 minutes from 10 and a faster travel speed of 60kph from 40.
"Natandaan natin noong araw 'MRTirik' ang tawag, ngayon wala na tayo glitches at lahat ng pasilidad ay newly rehabilitated. Malamig na aircon. Yun yung isa rin sa dahilan kung bakit kami nag-free ride. Para maramdaman kung ano nga ba ang pagkakaiba ng bagong rehabilitated na MRT3 sa luma na dinatnan natin na puro problema ang ibinigay satin," Capati said.
MRT-3 runs along EDSA parallel to the EDSA Bus Carousel, which offers free rides from Monumento Station and vice versa to PITX until July 31.
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