MRT-3 imposes strict 5-minute interval for bus augmentation

MANILA, Philippines — The bus augmentation program for commuters of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) will follow a strict five-minute interval for deploying buses to allow faster travel time for passengers, the train management said Friday.

“Full or not full, with or without passengers, passengers availing of MRT-3’s Bus Augmentation Program can expect buses to be deployed on a fixed interval of every 5 minutes to ferry them from designated loading and unloading stations along the MRT-3 line. Buses will be using dedicated median lanes along EDSA to deliver faster travel times to passengers,” read the statement from MRT-3 management.

The Metro railway’s bus program has so far served 4,383 commuters who require transportation services to report for work during the less stringent coronavirus lockdown.

Currently, the bus pick-up points are at North Avenue Station, Quezon Avenue Station, Ayala Station and Taft Station.

The first trip will depart at 5:30 a.m. while the last trip leaves at 8 p.m.

The train management said it would soon add more pick-up points.

The program will help stranded commuters in going to their workplace as the MRT-3 trains reduced its capacity to 394 per train set from the 1,182 original counts of passengers. The passengers were scaled down to allow a one-meter physical distancing.