Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon vowed to improve the passenger experience after inspecting Metro Manila’s busiest mass rail system.
Dizon led the inspection of MRT-3 stations at Taft, Ayala and Shaw Boulevard stations Monday and spoke with commuters about their experiences and suggestions on improving the MRT-3 service.
He assured passengers that the DOTr’s top priority is to expedite queues on trains and improve the orderliness of boarding and alighting.
He said immediate action would be taken to install lighting in dimly-lit stations and construct covered walkways connecting train stations to other transport modes like buses and jeepneys.
The DOTr earlier said it was eyeing to privatize the operations and management of MRT 3 as the build-lease-transfer (BLT) agreement between the government and Metro Rail Transit Corp. is set to expire this year.
The government operates MRT 3, while the MRTC, owned by Metro Rail Transit Holdings II Inc. led by businessman Robert John Sobrepeña, is responsible for the design and construction of the EDSA rail transit system.
Formed in 1995, MRTC started building MRT 3 in October 1996, completed it in December 1999 and started full operations in July 2020.
MRTC and the government through then Department of Transportation and Communications signed the BLT agreement to construct and maintain MRT 3.
MRTC financed the construction of the modern rail system stretching along EDSA’s 10.5-meter median from North Ave. in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City. The company infused P4.49 billion worth of equity into the project.
The train system was designed to carry in excess of 23,000 passengers per hour per direction, initially, and is expandable to accommodate 48,000 passengers per hour, per direction.