COMMUTERS using the railway systems in Metro Manila will be greeted by an increase in fares in January, even as these infrastructures have been seeing little to almost nil improvements over the year.
The 11+1 fare matrix will be implemented at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 starting January 4.
“It’s a tough decision, but it had to be made. It’s been several years since an increase was proposed. We delayed its implementation one last time until after the Christmas season. While 2015 will see increased fares, it will also see marked improvements in our LRT and MRT services,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said on late Saturday.
Despite inflation and rising operational costs over the years, the last fare increase for LRT 1 was in 2003. LRT 2’s fares, on the other hand, have never been increased. For MRT 3, not only have its fares never been increased, they were, in fact, lowered: from the original range of P17 to P34 in 1999, fares were decreased to P12 to P20 in 2000. Currently, it is even lower at a range of P10 to P15.
Thus, for MRT 3 passsengers coming from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, the fare will be P28 for stored-value and single-journey tickets, from the existing P15.
For LRT 2, the proposed fare would be P24 for stored-value and P25 for single-journey tickets from Recto to Santolan from the existing P15.
For LRT 1, the fare will be increased to P30 for single-journey and P29 for stored-value tickets from Roosevelt in Quezon City to Baclaran in Pasay City, from the present P20.
The three railway systems serve some 1.2 million passengers daily.
The fare adjustment is based on the approval and recommendation of the Light Rail Transit Authority, with due concurrence of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and the MRT 3 office.
The transport chief said the failure to match fare adjustments with increasing operating costs is the culprit for the worsening state of the train facilities.
Abaya said the “crippled ability to invest in large-scale improvements for their facilities, since revenues have only been enough for day-to-day operational requirements” stems out from the “practically break-even finances for all three lines.”
The increase is in line with the 2011-2016 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, which directs the adoption of the “user-pays” principle in the pricing of transportation services.
Currently, LRT and MRT operations are subsidized by government to the tune of some P12 billion a year.
Under the “user-pays” principle, riders will shoulder more of the cost for their own trips. In the case of LRT and MRT, this will entail a shift from the current zonal fare scheme to a distance-based system. As such, riders will be charged based on the distance they travel.
Since government subsidizes around 60 percent of the cost for each LRT 1 and LRT 2 passenger and around 75 percent of each MRT 3 passenger, an estimated P2 billion will be freed up for development projects and relief operations in other parts of the country.
“We must emphasize that around P10 billion will still go to subsidizing LRT and MRT passengers. But the premise of the user-pays principle is this: If what each rider pays is closer to the actual cost of his or her own trip, the P2-billion savings can be used for development projects and relief operations to benefit those who never even get to use the LRT or MRT,” Abaya explained.
“I’m referring to the vast majority of Filipinos outside of Metro Manila—those in other parts of Luzon, in the Visayas, and in Mindanao, most especially those whose lives have been severely affected by typhoons and calamities. They will be the real beneficiaries of a more equitable distribution of these savings,” he added.