With free rides over, fewer taking Pasig River ferries

THE NUMBER of passengers took a steep drop on the day the revived Pasig River ferry service started charging fares after almost three weeks of free rides.

On Friday, the private ferry operators tapped by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) started collecting P30 to P50 per trip, for one-way rides along five stations: Guadalupe, Makati City; Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City; and Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Sta. Mesa, Manila; Escolta in Binondo, and Plaza Mexico in Intramuros, also in Manila.

But the Guadalupe station, for example, saw a marked decline in riders. Only a total of 99 passengers queued for the hourly morning trips, from 6:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., according to MMDA personnel manning the ticket booth. During the free-ride weeks, up to 300 morning passengers took the ferries from the station.

Still, the numbers may be down but the satisfaction level is still up for those who are willing to pay.

For Marical Dalo, 30, the convenience offered by the revived service was worth it. “At least there’s no traffic,” said the housewife from Makati, who waited for the 9:45 a.m. ferry at Guadalupe together with her husband and one of their children. “Taking a taxi (to Manila) is still more expensive.”

Rebecca Monteron, 45, an insurance agent, admitted that the P50 boat ride to Escolta was more expensive than her usual FX taxi fare of P45, but she now preferred the river route since the trip takes less than an hour.

“This is more convenient because I can predict the time (of my arrival),” Monteron noted.

Her husband, Nilo, 46, also found the ferry to be a welcome “shortcut” between Makati and Manila.

The ferry service is supervised by a tripartite committee composed of the MMDA, the Department of Transportation and Communications, and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.

The MMDA proposed the revival of the Pasig River system as a means to decongest Metro Manila’s major roads affected by 15 road infrastructure projects being constructed in the next two years. With reports from Isabelle Lee and Andrea Ocampo