MANILA—The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) is set to reimplement a segregation scheme that would provide exclusive access to the first two doors of the first car for senior citizens, persons with disability (PWD), the pregnant, and those accompanying children starting August 21.
The MRT 3 announcement said women may occupy the rest of the first-train car.
“The second and third train cars will be open to all passengers,” the MRT 3 management said.
The return of the segregation scheme comes in time for the first day of classes of School Year 2022-2023, the MRT 3 management said.
Students can avail themselves of the 20-percent fare discount during the entire operational hours of the MRT 3 by presenting identification cards or original copies of the enrollment or registration forms when purchasing single-journey tickets from MRT 3 booths.
The first MRT 3 trains leave North Avenue station in Quezon City at 4:38 a.m. and Taft Avenue station in Pasay City at 5:19 a.m.
The last trains depart North Avenue at 9:30 p.m. and Taft Avenue at 10:09 p.m.
The Light Rail Transit Line 1 and Philippine National Railways follow the same segregation scheme.
Meanwhile, the supplier of Beep card—a stored value card commonly used in trains and some buses in the National Capital Region (NCR)—is confident that they will be able to meet the present demand for their cards following reports of a possible shortage due to manufacturing woes.
In a statement on Monday, AF Payments Inc. (AFPI) said it is still looking for manufacturers that could fulfill the production of Beep cards.
“We are confident that we can still supply the present demand in the rails and are hopeful that production will normalize by the end of the year,” AFPI said.
This comes after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday warned public transport operators (PTO) to get ready for a looming shortage of Beep cards due to “global chip supply chain problems” and the return of face-to-face classes.
The DOTr asked Beep cardholders to take care of their cards and for PTOs to make the necessary adjustments in controlling the sale of their cards and communicating such issues while allaying the fears of commuters.
To date, Beep cards are used at the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT 1), the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT 2), the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3), some city and provincial buses, modern jeepneys, ferries, tollways and some retail establishments.
As of June, the AFPI reported the sale of around 8.5 million Beep cards with transactions worth P32.8 billion processed through its automated fare collection system.