The Department of Transportation (DOT) said Wednesday it will hold a public hearing Thursday to review Light Rail Manila Corp.’s fare adjustment petition submitted for Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1.
Based on the petition filed before the Rail Regulatory Unit of DOTr, LRMC is seeking P18.15 boarding fare plus P1.65 per kilometer distance fare. This represents a 10.25-percent increase from the current actual fare of P13.29 plus P1.21.
This means that the proposed fare for an end-to-end journey will reach P58 for stored value cards, up from P43 and P60 for single journey tickets, up from P45.
Under the concession agreement, LRMC’s notional fare would be adjusted on Aug. 1, 2016 and every second anniversary thereafter by an effective rate of 5 percent per annum, or 10.25 percent per adjustment. This means that the private operator LRMC is entitled to a 10 percent fare hike every two years.
“While [LRMC] has no obligation to justify contractual fare adjustments under the Concession Agreement, it wishes to point out, on a without prejudice basis, that it while it is aware that a P4.864 increase may be significant for some of its passengers, however, petitioner [LRMC] believes that passengers understand and accept fare increases in exchange for improvements in the system and service,” the company said in its petition.
LRMC said it implemented significant operational improvements, rehabilitation projects and system upgrades to the existing system since it took over on Sept. 12,2015.
“While it is not required under the concession agreement as a condition for the grant of a fare increase, these improvements further support the reasonableness and fairness of and further justify the increase,” it said.
Bayan in a statement opposed in unequivocal terms the proposed LRT fare hike, the second fare increase under the Marcos administration.
According to Bayan, a P10-increase per trip translates into an additional P20 expense per day, an additional P100 per week and additional P400 per month.
It said wages had not substantially increased and inflation quickened by end of 2024.
“The private operators are citing ‘improved’ services and claim that the fare hike is accepted by commuters. In the end, whether there are improvements or not, the private operators claim they are entitled to a fare hike,” it said.
“We oppose these onerous terms. We also call out the DoTr ‘hearings’ wherein the applicants and the so-called DoTr Rail Regulatory Unit go through the motions of minimum compliance with due process requirements even if the fare hike appears to be a done deal under the existing concession agreement,” it said.