The Transport department on Thursday announced free rides for students at the mass rail systems and exempt them from paying terminal fees at the government-owned airports and ports starting July 1.
Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade said students will get free rides from the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, Light Rail Transit Line 2 and the Philippine National Railways at select hours daily starting July 1.
For the LRT Line 2, students will get free rides from 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., and from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and from 5:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. and 3p.m. to 4:30 p.m. for MRT3.
The LRT runs across five cities in Metro Manila: Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, San Juan and Manila. It passes the major thoroughfares of Marcos Highway, Aurora Boulevard, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Legarda Street and Recto Avenue.
MRT 3 runs along Edsa from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, serving more than 500,000 passengers a day or beyond its rated capacity of 350,000 passengers.
For PNR, the free rides are from 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m..
Tugade said students will also be exempted from paying terminal fees in the Philippine Ports Authority and the airports operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines starting July 16 and Aug. 1, respectively.
He said the project will run initially for three months and the government will revisit it to improve the implementation.
“The project aims to encourage students to go to school early as well as to go home early,” Tugade said.