Pasig ferry service free on first week

THIS PROTOTYPE of the revived Pasig River ferry didn’t impress much during an earlier test run conducted by the MMDA. But the agency looks forward to a better performance starting Monday. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

It’s all systems go for the ambitious revival of the Pasig River ferry service, with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) at the helm.

In a statement, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said the agency would start offering the service on Monday, with free rides on the first week, using five boats provided by two private operators.

In a briefing of employees at the MMDA headquarters on Friday afternoon, planning officer Rey Lunas said the “soft launch” would see the reopening of the old ferry stations in Guadalupe, Makati City, and Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City.

The service, to be opened during the commuter peak hours from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., will be plying the route between the two stations. Three boats will be deployed in Guadalupe, two in Pinagbuhatan.

The route may be extended in the next few days to include the stretch from Guadalupe to Escolta in Manila, Lunas said.

Earlier, Tolentino said the first week may also see the reopening of the route from Guadalupe to Plaza Mexico, passing through the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Lunas said the service would be provided by the MMDA for free in the first week as the private operators were still processing their application for certificates for public conveyance with the Maritime Industry Authority.

The fares have yet to be announced pending the issuance of the certificates.

The boats to be used in the first week will each have a 28-person capacity and the trips are expected to take 30 to 35 minutes from Guadalupe to Pinagbuhatan, at a speed of five knots.

The MMDA chief pushed for the revival of the Pasig River system as a way to decongest Metro Manila’s main thoroughfares and in view of the major infrastructure projects taking shape starting this year.

The Pasig ferry revival is an interagency effort by the MMDA, the Department of Transportation and Communication and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.