Light Rail Manila Corp., the private sector operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1, is seeking a fare adjustment for Metro Manila’s oldest mass rail transit system.
LRMC president and CEO Juan Alfonso told a news conference in Pasay City on Tuesday that the company had applied for a fare hike last March.
Alfonso said LRMC was asking for an average P5 fare adjustment and P7 hike for end-to-end trip from Baclaran to Roosevelt.
The fare increase is targeted to be implemented on Aug. 1.
Meanwhile, some 1,000 passengers were unloaded by the Metro Rail Transit-3 on Tuesday morning after a door problem was detected, according to private television report.
The southbound passengers were unloaded at the Araneta Center-Cubao station at 9:13 a.m., the Department of Transportation said in a tweet.
The passengers were able to board the next train after six minutes.
The DOTr said the door failure might have been caused by “stress on door components caused by leaning on the door or forcing it open.”
According to Alfonso, the fare increase was subject to public consultation and approval by the Department of Transportation.
Under the concession deal with the government, the fares could be adjusted by 10 percent every two years.
LRT1 fares were last adjusted in January 2015.
Commuters at present pay P15, P20, P30 per trip depending on the number of stations traveled.
Alfonso said the fare increase was for LRMC to “catch up” with the investments it made for the rehabilitation and other service improvements in the LRT1 for the past three years.
According to LRMC, its total capital investment including concession payments to date amounted to P10.5 billion.
If the government rejects the company’s request for fare adjustment, the LRMC chief said other options were laid out in the concession agreement.
Alfonso also cited several improvements LRMC made since it took over the operations and maintenance of LRT1.
For the first quarter of the year, train availability was at 109 cars, higher than 100 in March last year.
Daily ridership increased 4 percent to 459,400 year-on-year, while average daily trips increased 9.7 percent from 505 to 554 trips.
Alfonso added that there was zero failure notice on train availability, punctuality, and reliability.