‘Shortage in LRT stored value tickets over in 2 weeks’

It could take up to two weeks before the Light Rail Transit (LRT) management is able to address a technical malfunction that has made stored value tickets unavailable to passengers of Line 1.

In a statement, the LRT Authority (LRTA) said it was doing all it could to ensure the availability of stored value tickets as soon as possible.

The agency said three of its six ticket sorting issuing equipment (TSEI), the machines that process magnetic tickets for passengers, broke down last week.

“The parts required in repairing of the malfunctioned TSIEs are supplied by Thales of Paris, its original equipment manufacturer. LRTA is now coordinating with the manufacturer to replace the parts as soon as possible,” it said on Thursday.

LRTA corporate secretary Hernando Cabrera said the agency had prioritized the shipping of the needed equipment in order to make sure it arrives as soon as possible. “It should get here next week or the week after that,” he added.

He said that while the remaining TSEIs could still be calibrated to issue stored value tickets which are sold at P100 each, the LRTA chose to prioritize the selling of single-journey cards.

“Not all passengers are willing or can afford to buy stored value tickets. But all passengers can afford single-journey tickets,” Cabrera said. “The LRTA is appealing to all passengers to bear with the inconvenience brought about by the temporary unavailability of stored value tickets,”

About half a million passengers take the 30-year-old LRT Line 1 which runs from Baclaran to Roosevelt every day, making it the country’s most-used overhead commuter train line.