LRTA Lines 1 and 2 ready for crunch time,

can take in 50% more passengers

By Lenie Lectura

THE Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) said Tuesday the capacity of both Lines 1 and 2 can accommodate tens of thousands more of commuters even if ridership increases by another half from the current estimated 695,000 passengers a day.

LRTA Administrator Melquiades Robles assured the public that both their Baclaran-to-Monumento (Line 1) and Recto-to-Santolan (Line 2) lines can still take in more passengers amid reports that commuters are now being squeezed into overcrowded trains as demand for train ridership surged following the continuous oil-price hike.

Robles also belied reports that queue at entrances to the train stations trail down staircase.

“While it may be true for other carriers, overcrowding in the trains and that kind of queuing will not happen with our Line 2 system and is no longer the case for our Line 1 system after we had our capacity expansion,” Robles clarified.

LRTA’s Line 2 system has 16 trainsets available, which can carry a maximum of 730,240 passengers per day. It posted a ridership of 219,995 on July 4, the highest so far since its first commercial operation in 2003.

On the other hand, its Line 1 system has a stable of 139 coaches that may be configured into three-car or four-car train combinations depending on passenger demand. It can carry as much as 1,309,680 passengers per day, or 38,520 persons per hour per direction (pphpd). The highest ridership count for the month was also on July 4, with 475,891 passengers.

“Even if our ridership for all line systems will increase by 50 percent, we can still absorb the additional passengers,” Robles assured.

Robles said the LRTA was able to foresee the rise in train ridership demand with its Line 1 system and thus ordered for the speedy rehabilitation of all down trains, some of which were inoperative for 15 years already.

Robles also pushed for the capacity expansion of the said line system from 27,000 pphpd to 40,000 pphpd, or a total of 1,360,000 passengers per day, to cope with the present and expected increase in ridership.

“Ridership capacity of the LRTA lines is unprecedented, it is in fact the biggest riding capacity. Our Line 1 is even poised to expand from Monumento to SM North Edsa even without the need to acquire additional trainsets,” Robles said.

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THE Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) said Tuesday the capacity of both Lines 1 and 2 can accommodate tens of thousands more of commuters even if ridership increases by another half from the current estimated 695,000 passengers a day.

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