The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is accelerating big-ticket transport infrastructure, while pushing for high-capacity mass transportation systems to save commuters’ time and boost their productivity.
DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon said that to make commuting convenient and comfortable for commuters, the agency is building infrastructure that is commuter-centric, as well as encouraging car owners to use public transportation.
“Building high-capacity mass transit, building more walkways for people to walk, for people to bike, is really the way to go,” Dizon said.
The transport chief cited projects such as the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP), North-South Commuter Railway System (NSCR), EDSA Busway modernization and MRT-7, among others.
“The solution does not lie in building more roads, more wider roads. The solution lies in building high-capacity infrastructures for the commuters,” he said.
Once the subway and Manila-Pampanga train system are completed, the four-hour commuting from Pampanga and Bulacan to Metro Manila and vice versa will be cut down to 30 minutes to one hour, the transport chief pointed out.
The DOTr earlier said the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) is on track to become fully operational by end of 2029.
Spanning 33 kilometers across eight local governments units in Metro Manila and passing through three central business districts, the MMSP is an expansive system that will be interconnected with LRT-1, MRT-3 and MRT-7 at the Common Station, LRT-2 at Anonas Station and a physical run through into the NSCR-EX at FTI and Bicutan Stations.
The P488.5-billion project is also expected to serve around 370,000 passengers a day in its first year of full operations, with capacity to serve up to 1 million passengers a day in later years.
The project aims to reduce travel time between Clark, Pampanga and Calamba, Laguna to just two hours and service over 800,000 passengers daily once operational.
A flagship project under the “Build Better More” program, the NSCR is a mega railway network spanning 148 km., with 37 stations and 464 train cars and encompassing three segments―the PNR Clark Phase 1 (Tutuban-Malolos), PNR Clark Phase 2 (Malolos-Clark) and PNR Calamba (Solis-Calamba).
The mass transport project will run across 26 cities and municipalities in Central Luzon, the National Capital Region and Calabarzon.
The project aims to serve over 800,000 passengers daily once it becomes fully operational.
“This is game changing in the amount of savings, amount of quality time spent with family, and the amount of productivity that we can gain from all of these transportation projects, so we have to finish them,” he said.