Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Starting Monday, October 19, more passengers will be allowed to ride the Metro Rail Transit Line – 3 (MRT-3), the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2), and the Philippine National Railways (PNR).
In a statement, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said these rail lines will increase their passenger capacity to 30 percent from the current 13 percent to 18 percent. Eventually, DOTr said the passenger capacity of these rail lines will be increased to 50 percent.
“Our railway lines are preparing for the increased capacity, initially to 30%,” DOTr Undersecretary for Railways TJ Batan said.
The MRT-3 management earlier announced that intends to increase train capacity from 153 passengers per train set to 372 passengers per train set.
Meanwhile, the LRT-1 line, starting Monday, will accommodate 370 passengers per train set while the LRT-2 line will accommodate 486 passengers per train set, the DOTr said.
The PNR will increase its maximum passenger capacity depending on the train’s model.
It will accommodate 179 passengers per train set on the DMU ROTEM model; 167 passengers per train set on the DMU 8000 model; 228 passengers per train set on the DMU 8100 model; and 302 passengers per train set for the EMU model.
“Ang bilin po ni Secretary [Arthur] Tugade, dapat po ay dahan-dahan ang pagdagdag sa kapasidad ng mga tren at siguruhing mahigpit na ipatutupad ang seven commandments upang maprotektahan ang kalusugan ng ating mga commuter,” Batan said.
(Secretary Tugade said that we should slowly increase the capacity of trains and ensure that the seven commandments will be followed to protect our commuters.)
The DOTr said the following rules will be observed on the trains: wearing of face masks, face shields, no talking or eating, adequate ventilation, frequent and proper disinfection, no symptomatic passengers, and observance of physical distancing.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet approved the “one-seat-apart rule” for public transportation. A one-meter distance was previously being implemented.