MRT, LRT fare hike to take effect in 2013—DoTC

6:00 pm | Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Metro Rail Transit’s fare hike will proceed in 2013, after Congress slashed rail subsidies in efforts to allocate more funds to the development of the Philippine countryside.

Outgoing Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas on Wednesday said the fare hike at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) lines was supposed to take effect in 2012 but were pushed back to give commuters a reprieve from rising commodity costs.

“As you know, the DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications] budget for 2012 was already cut to reduce subsidies for the LRT and MRT in anticipation of a fare hike,” Roxas said.

“But the President asked us to look for areas where we could save money just to keep fares at where they are,” Roxas said.

In an interview, he said several projects that would have resulted in better services to consumers had to be pushed back just to keep rates at current levels.

But in the 2013 budget, Roxas said Congress introduced fresh cuts to MRT subsidies that, in the past, reached P7 billion a year. Subsidies are needed because current fares do not reflect the real cost of transporting passengers on the Metro Manila trains.

“Congressmen in other areas outside NCR [National Capital Region] say that the MRT and LRT lines get too much in subsidies. They wanted the subsidies to be lower so they could divert more money to areas outside Metro Manila,” Roxas said.

Roxas, who sits as president of the ruling Liberal Party, declined to say when exactly the higher fares would take effect. He said he would leave the decision up to Jun Abaya, who replaces Roxas at the DoTC next month.

Both Abaya and Roxas were confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on Wednesday. Roxas will move to the Department of the Interior and Local Government next month to replace the late Jesse Robredo.

The new fares, approved by Roxas’ predecessor Jose “Ping” de Jesus, will increase maximum LRT and MRT fares to P30 per passenger.

This will bring the rate closer to fares on buses that travel the same routes. Currently, passengers are charged P15 each to travel from one end of the LRT line 2 (Recto, Manila, to Santolan, Marikina) and the MRT on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue from the Taft station in Pasay to North Avenue in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, it takes P20 to get from LRT line 1’s Baclaran station in Pasay to Roosevelt, in Quezon City.

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Tags: Department of Transportation and Communications , fare hikes , light rail transit , Mar Roxas , Metro Rail Transit , Philippines - Metro , Railways , Trains

gilbs72

Kelangan alisin ang subsidy sa MRT kasi kekelanganin na ng pamahalaan ng pera ng pambili ng condom at pills.
http://www.facebook.com/willy.estrella.79 Willy Estrella

AJ GIORGIO…benefit kamo sayo dahil luluwag ang MRT? Swapang mo! ndi mo man lang inisip ang mga kababayan mong maralita. mag taxi ka! OK mag fare increase, IF… sapat ang kinikita ni Juan dela Cruz. To our beloved Congressmen nman…Use your Pork Barrel wisely, kung gusto nyo talagang umunlad ang pobinsya ninyo ayan ang Pork Barrel nyo! A Government that does not meet the target tax collection is a corrupt government. Tanggalin ang mga corrupt, ayusin ang tax collections!
Lynne Marcos

Tagal ng issue to, laging may dahilan kung bakit ayaw itaas yung pamasahe. Lagi na lang nade-delay. Tama na ang puro salita. Pag talagang nangyari to dun lang ako maniniwala. Dapat nga sa mas madaling panahon dahil grabe na talaga ang sitwasyon sa MRT. Tingnan niyo na lang kung gaano kahaba ang pila lalo na sa North Avenue station sa magkabilang side araw araw. Sobrang siksikan na din yung train! Mas comfortable pa yung mga hayop na ibinabiyahe sa barko kesa sa mga taong sumasakay sa MRT ah. Pansin ko din ngayon nagkakaubusan ng stored value tickets. Kaya nga yun binibili ng tao para makaiwas sa laging pagpila sa ticket counter eh, dagdag problema at pasakit pa sa mga pasahero yun. Dapat na rin baguhin yung namamahala diyan sa MRT, wala naman akong nakikitang pagbabago; lumalala pa nga.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WMSRSETBD2MYL6LIDYS446GNVI Haney Lore

The fare increase is more than fair. When the MRT opened in 1999, the fare from North to Ayala station (Magallanes and Taft stations still under construction) was already P33.

Ralph L

that rate is still subsidized. The real market fare is 45-60 pesos

kimo211

election na naman!!!!!! medyo kailangan ang puhunan?
Parigi

Please unify all tickets for MRT and LRT and remove its expiry date. Use x ray machines for passenger inspection to avoid delay. Build the other LRT lines like Line 7 (along Commonwealth to San Jose del Monte) and Line 8 (along Shaw to Angono). While government should provide public transport services to its citizens, it may be ok to have the fare increase so long as they attend to the improvements enumerated above. Thank you.
AJ Giorgio

Ibig sabihin ba nito, mas luluwag na sa MRT? Yun lang ang nakikita kong “benefit” para sa akin.
http://twitter.com/tonijane016 Maritoni Jane Basa

I hope this cut in subsidy will indeed result to better projects for other sectors of the government and will not be misused by officials, especially with the upcoming elections.

gilbs72

Here’s the irony – government is reducing subsidies for MRT which benefits the working class who push our economy forward (read: TAXPAYERS). And yet, on the other hand rabidly pushing a bill authorizing government to spend billions on condoms and pills to distribute to others (presumably for the entire duration of their fertile lives).
Btw most of these MRT-riding taxpayers are probably the ones planning their families and spending on their own contraceptives (or practice NFP if they don’t wish to spend anything). These are the ones practicing true RESPONSIBLE parenthood and not “rely-on-government” parenthood.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_433AYTAQRGRQD6CNXQKWD5ZZHY Sword

At last, our government has the balls to reduce subsidies and increase the fare. I hope that someday, the government will remove the subsidies altogether and let the fare reflect the true market price.

http://twitter.com/teachdiwa Christine Diwa Gapuz

If that’s the case, let’s go private on all transpo projects. Sound good to you?

Nic Legaspi

Why not? SG’s MRT system is privately-owned, and they have one of the most efficient transportation network in Southeast Asia. Their train system was built only after ours came up but now they have a more comprehensive transportation system than ours, spanning other forms of public transpo including buses, taxis, etc. Why are people so afraid of private entities? They have the money and, more importantly, VISION, to make things succeed. And don’t forget, these concessions are regulated by the government, so they are also answerable to the people if they overcharge.
http://twitter.com/teachdiwa Christine Diwa Gapuz

I was being sarcastic about Sword’s idea of totally removing subsidies. Of course, both private and public projects are important and I acknowledge the potentialities of the private sector. It is just that the reason subsidies exist is because not all can afford quality services at a certain cost.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_433AYTAQRGRQD6CNXQKWD5ZZHY Sword

I’m actually in favor of privatizing all services. In fact, let’s privatize our health care, defense, and education. In fact, let’s abolish the government. We don’t need the government to live.

MRT, LRT fare hike to take effect in 2013—DoTC

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