MMDA reopens ferryboat service, offers free rides

For this week, passengers get to ride for free in any of the Pasig River ferry boats manned by the MMDA. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines—The Pasig River ferry system was reopened on Monday as part of the efforts of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to offer to commuters looking for alternative ways of transportation.

The “soft launch” of the ferry service, however, brought to the attention of riders the river’s pitiful state and the difficulties faced by authorities tasked with its rehabilitation.

In a short ceremony held at the Guadalupe station in Makati at 7 a.m. Monday, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino signaled the opening of the ferry service, which shut down three years ago.

At least two private operators have lent their boats to the MMDA for the ferry service which will pick up and drop off passengers at four stations in Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong and Pasig cities. For the rest of the week, the ferryboats will be offering free rides.

On Monday, five nonair-conditioned ferryboats started plying riders from Guadalupe in Makati City to Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City. The boats had to skip the Plaza Mexico via PUP Sta. Mesa route in compliance with the no-sail zone policy in that area for the arrival of US President Barack Obama.

Several commuters expressed satisfaction that it took them just 28 minutes to travel from Makati to Pasig City, a route that would normally take them between one to two hours by land.

“[This mode of transport] is really faster,” Ruby Alcantara, a 53-year-old supervisor of a firm in Guadalupe, said.

“We are expecting the number of commuters to keep on growing because … [it’s impossible] for you to be stuck in an intersection here,” Tolentino told reporters.

Riders, however, were exposed to trash floating in the river—plastic wrappers, broken chairs, Styrofoam—on top of the foul smell emanating from its murky waters.

“It smells like rotting things, like a canal’s stinky water. I had to cover my nose all the time,” Jovy Cabilitasan, a 37-year-old Makati resident, said.

Her aunt Paneng Loreto, 68, fainted, apparently from the boat ride and the river’s assaulting smell.

Passengers also noticed illegal settlers who had turned Guadalupe Bridge into their shelter.

“They have to clean up the river and relocate informal settlers,” Alcantara said when asked how the ferry system might be improved.

Even actress Shaina Magdayao who joined Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) chief Gina Lopez at the opening ceremony could not hide her disappointment over the stink coming from the river.

“Instead of using Edsa, commuters may take the ferry. But the problem is its foul smell,” Magdayao said.

Lopez explained that the PRRC just started this year the cleanup of the main part of the river after it spent the previous years clearing the 48 estuaries flowing into the 25-kilometer-long body of water.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Rene Limcauco projected that the Pasig River ferry system may be operating at full blast by the end of the second quarter or by the third quarter.

He noted that while the MMDA, transportation department and PRRC were speaking with private contractors on the route, schedule and fare matrix, the processing of the franchise may take at least a month.

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