A FEW weeks after being appointed as general manager of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, Roman Buenafe, a mechanical engineer, gave another reason why commuters should stop patronizing the ailing train line.
Under his watch, senior citizens, pregnant women, people with very young children and persons with disability (PWDs)—or those who enjoyed the privilege of a much comfortable ride on the already uncomfortable railway system—are now being forced to join the hundreds of thousands of regular commuters in queuing to enter the North Avenue station in Quezon City.
These sectors were surprised last Wednesday when they were required to queue with the regular train riders even during rush hours.
These groups were previously given the privilege of riding the trains at the northbound side of the station, enter the last coach of the arriving train and choose their seats as soon as the alighting passengers disembarked. They were already seated when the just-arrived train made a turn-back to pick up passengers on the southside going to Taft Avenue, the other end of the line of the train system.
Starting February 18, thanks to Buenafe’s instruction, the erstwhile “privileged” riders now have to go through the physically painful process of lining up with the regular commuters.
Guards were also at panic, confused with how they would handle the newly imposed rule. They scrambled to give directions and explanations to angry grandmothers, soon-to-be mothers, parents with very young children and commuters with disability.
Buenafe, a graduate of the Philippine Science High School, was not replying to the BusinessMirror’s queries via text or call since Friday.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya clarified that the new policy has something to do with a safety concern at the turn-back system of the line.
“The policy is still in effect. What he removed is when a PWD gets to TriNoma. They stay on the train and does a transfer on a very small platform at the turn-back, which has some safety issues,” the Cabinet official said. “He is studying another way to do it safely.”
The MRT has been a hot item in the news these past few months due to its already obsolete facilities.
The 15-year-old mass-transit system, which ferries more than half-a-million passengers daily, has been in a state of decay. Passengers frequently complain of long queues caused by the lack of light-rail vehicles. The public was also outraged by the MRT’s inefficient ticketing system, humid train cars, faulty elevators and escalators, and rude workers.
The train system even poses risks to the safety of the riding public, several rail experts, including those from MTR Corp. Ltd., the operator of the railway system in Hong Kong, concluded.
But, despite all this, actual improvements in the line have yet to be implemented. The government is auctioning off a P9.7-billion deal to overhaul the MRT. This is being done in separate tranches.
The group of businessman Robert John L. Sobrepeña is proposing to do a “quick fix” solution to make the train system safe for public transport.
The venture would require the group of Sobrepeña, who owns the MRT system, to invest P6.75 billion into the train line. The proposal involves the procurement of a total of 96 new train cars, the rehabilitation of the existing 73 coaches, and the extension of the MRT all the way to Caloocan, while liberating the government from renting the train system.
Under the proposal, a single point of responsibility will be implemented, meaning the rehabilitation and the maintenance of the line will be handled by a single company. Separately, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is proposing to shoulder the upgrade costs of the train system and release the government from the bondage of paying billions of pesos in equity rental payments.
The group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, which earlier entered into a partnership agreement with the corporate owner of the MRT, intends to spend $524 million to overhaul the line.
The venture would effectively expand the capacity of the railway system by adding more coaches to each train, allowing it to carry more cars at faster intervals. The multimillion-dollar expansion plan would double the capacity of the line to 700,000 passengers a day from the current 350,000 passengers daily.     It was submitted in 2011, but the transportation agency’s chief back then rejected the proposal.
The proposals are still at the mercy of the transportation department, which is currently in the process of effecting a buyout of the owners of the train line.
Despite the lack of the needed funding to bankroll the P54-billion takeover, transport officials have repeatedly said the government will continue to execute the multibillion-peso buyout initiative. Should the buyout be completed in 2016, the transportation agency may then bid out the operations and maintenance contract of the line, thereby tapping private-sector efficiency and customer-service orientation for operational needs, while retaining regulatory functions for passenger protection with the government.
The train system has been operating at overcapacity since 2004. Currently, the line serves nearly 550,000 passengers per day, it even reached, at one point last year, the 650,000-daily passenger mark. It has a rated capacity of 350,000 daily passengers.
Meanwhile, irate older passengers, pregnant women, parents with very young children and PWDs are daring Buenafe to ride the trains with them anonymously, without the privilege of his office, and experience for himself the discomfort of riding the trains he just recently began to manage.