Aquino wants to know exactly when MRT, LRT service will improve

MANILA, Philippines—Amid complaints over fare increases in Metro Manila’s elevated train system, President Benigno Aquino III has ordered officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications to tell him when commuters would actually experience improved conditions at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT), Malacañang said on Wednesday.

Mr. Aquino made this clear during meetings with officials of DoTC, his spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, told reporters.

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Lacierda said the President rejected “general” time frames such as when transportation officials told him that certain improvements would take effect in the “middle of this year or middle of next year.”

“I have to have a specific timeline,” he quoted Mr. Aquino as saying.

“The President required DoTC to give specific timelines on each rehab project that they’re going to introduce. So those things are being firmed up by the DoTC,” he added.

Lacierda said the DoTC was supposed to finalize the targets in a meeting on Wednesday.

In the meantime, he said the delivery of 48 new coaches would be completed by January 2017. The first batch of three light rail vehicles will arrive in September this year.

The initial target for the improvement of conveyance facilities like elevators and escalators has been set May this year, while the upgrade for the signaling system has been set three months later, Lacierda said.

“There are specific timetables that the President has required from the DoTC, cognizant of the inconvenience of the riding passengers right now,” he said.

In justifying the fare increase, Malacañang earlier said taxpayers outside of Metro Manila should not be made to pay for a service they were not necessarily using. With the adjustments, the government subsidy is expected to decrease from P12 billion to P10 billion.

Lacierda said groups now asking the Supreme Court to stop the fare increase had the “right” to do so.

But he noted that one such group, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, had participated in public hearings prior to the implementation of the fare adjustment.

RELATED STORIES
SC studying possible TRO on MRT, LRT fare hike, says high court spokesman

Senators slam MRT-LRT fare hike