The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is pushing through with a planned fare hike on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 by next year, Secretary Jaime Bautista said over the weekend, without saying by how much fares would be increased.
“It will push through. We are reviewing it, maybe next year,” Bautista told reporters, after the Transportation department deferred the fare hike due to “infirmities in complying with the requirements and procedure.”
The rail system, which serves over 500,000 passengers daily and runs the length of EDSA from Caloocan in the north of Metro Manila to Paranaque in the south, currently charges fares from P13 to P28 per passenger.
Metro Rail Transit Corporation, the firm that runs the system, earlier filed an additional P2.29 boarding fare and P0.21 distance fare per kilometer to finance its operating expenses.
As of November last year, the MRTC claimed the train system’s total expenses amounted to P8.96 billion with total revenue at just P1.1 billion, or a deficit of P7.8 billion — leading to an P88.34 government subsidy for every passenger.
Envisioned in the 1970s as part of various feasibility studies, the 13-station, 16.9-kilometer line was the second rapid transit line to be built in Metro Manila when it started full operations in 2000 under a 25-year concession agreement between its private owners and the DOTr.
The department earlier approved a fare adjustment for LRT Line 1 and Line 2, the first train systems in the metropolis, which consists of an additional P2.29 boarding fare and P0.21 distance fare per kilometer, from the existing P11.00 boarding fare and P1.00 distance fare.
Transportation Undersecretary Cesar Chavez had said the LRT-1 and LRT-2 deserve a modest fare increase after its operators’ petitions were denied for the past eight years.
Chavez said that the actual rates for end-to-end travel on the LRT-2 from Antipolo to Recto costs P178 per passenger, but only P30 is being charged.
“Therefore, P148 is the indicative subsidy by the government for each passenger from end to end,” Chavez said.
The same can be said of the actual cost of end-to-end train rides on the LRT-1, Chavez said, stressing that LRT-1’s operator Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) has been asking for a fare increase since 2016.