STARTING January 4, riders will have to cough up more money to be able to take the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3), as well as Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 (LRT).
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has decided to adopt a uniform distance-based fare scheme for the mass-transport system.
Passengers of the 17-kilometer MRT 3 from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City and vice versa would pay P28 for stored-value and single-journey tickets from the current fare of P15.
Passengers on LRT 1 from Baclaran to Monumento would have to shell out P30 for single journey and P29 for stored-value tickets from the existing P20 fare.
Those taking the LRT 2 from Recto Avenue to Santolan would have to pay P24 for stored value and P25 for single-journey tickets from the current P15 fare.
The government last raised fares for LRT 1 to P15 in 2003, while fares of LRT 2 have remained unchanged.
But don’t expect the substantial fare hike to result in upgraded facilities, better maintenance and an end to the long queues at MRT 3 stations during rush hour.
In justifying the fare hike, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said: “It is envisioned that this fare scheme will result in an equitable distribution of government funds currently dedicated to subsidizing the operations of the above rail lines in Metro Manila to much-needed development projects and relief operations in other parts of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.”
While higher operating costs make a fare hike timely and inevitable, what’s worrisome is that the revenues to be earned from higher fares will not necessarily be used for modernizing the system and ensuring the safety of riders.
The government currently subsidizes around 60 percent of the cost for each LRT 1 and LRT 2 passenger and around 75 percent for each MRT 3 passenger. On an annual basis, the government shells out around P10 billion to subsidize the operations of MRT and LRT. With the fare increase, the government stands to earn an estimated P2 billion annually that would be used for infrastructure projects and rehabilitation and reconstruction in typhoon-damaged areas.
In other words, riders may still have to bear with long queues at MRT stations during rush hours or face the prospect of trains stopping dead in their tracks due to malfunctions and glitches.
While the savings in government subsidies for the MRT/LRT could be channeled to other uses, such as Yolanda reconstruction—a noteworthy endeavor, to be sure—making riders foot the bill for, say, construction of evacuation centers in Tacloban City, does not look right at all.
If MRT/LRT must increase fares, the revenues generated should be used to vastly improve facilities and ensure the comfort and safety of riders.
The DOTC estimates that the projected savings from cutting the MRT/LRT subsidies would mean savings that could be used to build 8,240 classrooms, 82 kilometers’ worth of farm-to-market roads or 11,440 hectares of irrigated farmlands.
But that argument is specious, as riders only want the trains to bring them to their destinations on time and in one piece.
Expect, therefore, widespread public outrage over the government’s move to increase MT/LRT fares without any guarantee of good service and improved facilities.
Unnecessary delay
OVER in Cebu, the national government’s much-vaunted Public-Private Partnership Program is taking another beating with the unnecessary delay in the construction of a new terminal for the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
The airport-modernization project has been awarded by the DOTC to GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., a joint venture between Megawide Construction Corp. and Indian infrastructure firm GMR. But even as the joint venture has already raised the needed funds and quashed rear-guard action from a losing bidder, it must now face a new hurdle—the delay in the relocation of the Cebu office of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), which stands in the middle of the site where the new terminal should be built.
It appears that the PAF has already bidded out the office-relocation project three times, but no contractor has submitted a superior bid. So GMCAC is left twiddling its thumbs while the PAF takes its sweet time moving out of its Cebu office.
The project is expected to be delayed by at least half a year. Since the project was supposed to start early next year and completed in three years, Cebuanos will have to wait until mid-2018 before they can get a spanking new international airport.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.