The increase in train fares will not be implemented as smoothly as expected, as commuter groups are set to exhaust all legal means to block the government from effecting the “unjustified” order.
Train Riders Network (TREN) Spokesman James Relativo said his group will take legal actions against the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) over the “surprise” announcement of fare increases at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3.
“TREN is now conferring with lawyers on the possible legal actions to take not just against the fare hike but against those who irresponsibly gave their approval,” he said.
He said his group views the fare hike as “Christmas and New Year gift” of President Aquino and Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya to “the incompetent MRT private owner and private contractor, and to the new LRT overlords who bagged the deal to take over the profitable, more-efficient and state-run LRT.”
Relativo was referring to MRT Holdings Inc. Chairman John Robert L. Sobrepeña and the Light Rail Manila Corp. of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., which won the P64.9-billion contract to extend LRT Line 1 to Cavite and to operate and maintain the said line.
The transportation agency announced on Saturday that fares at the overhead train systems in Metro Manila will be jacked up starting January 4.
He said the three lines will start implementing the 11+1 fare matrix, which will effectively double the ticket prices at the three train systems.
Once the fare hike is implemented, a ride on LRT 1, from Baclaran to Roosevelt, will cost P29, while a one-way trip on LRT 2, from Santolan to Recto, will be at P24, a trip on MRT 3, between North Avenue and Taft Avenue, will cost P28.
Currently, a ride on the MRT 3 ranges from P10 to P15, while a ride on LRT 1 and LRT 2 costs from P12 to P15 and P20, respectively.
“The reason fare hikes have been overwhelmingly opposed and always delayed is simple: they are unjustified,” Relativo said.
Abaya noted, however, that the increase is justifiable as this would give financial muscle to both the government and the operators to improve the train systems’ facilities.
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,” he explained.
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 the government to the tune of approximately P12 billion per 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 the 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.
The last round of increase for LRT 1 was in 2003, while LRT 2’s fares have never been jacked up since it was built. MRT 3 fares, on the other hand, were even lowered from the original range of P17 to P34 in 1999 to P12 to P20 in 2000. Currently the fare range at the most-congested train system in the country is at P10 to P15 per ride.
Congressional probe
Reps. Neri J. Colmenares and Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna, meanwhile, expressed their opposition to the fare hike, urging the lower chamber to conduct a probe on the matter.
“We are not against development or the extension of the rail systems but we are against passing government irresponsibility and corporate greed, not to mention corrupt practices, onto hapless commuters. We are also against sweetheart deals that to put it in the vernacular, ay ginigisa tayo sa sarili nating mantika, Colmenares, who is also the House senior deputy minority leader, said.
“As it is, we are calling on the House leadership to call for a special session for this or for Congress Transportation Committee to hold hearings for House Resolution 111 even during the Christmas break because the fare increase will be implemented as early as the first Monday of January,” he added.
Zarate said the Aquino government has adopted privatization as its escape hatch whenever it needs to bail out its public utilities buried in debt due to poor management and/or corruption.
“The experience with privatization has shown that privatized utilities bring about unregulated price increases. It is feared that increasing fares will eventually lead to privatization and the state’s abandonment of its duty to provide affordable mass transportation to the citizens,” he said.
The increase in fares is expected to net P2 billion in savings, which is equivalent to 8,240 classrooms, 82 kilometers’ worth of farm-to-market roads, or 11,440 hectares’ worth of irrigated farmlands, the transport chief noted.
The scheduled increase will be implemented despite the lack of improvements in the lines. Practically all three systems are either nearing their rated capacity or have barged through their crush capacity.
But work is under way for the development of the three train lines, Abaya said.
The primary solution to long lines at the MRT 3, for instance, is in progress, as new light-rail vehicles are already being manufactured.
The prototype unit will be delivered in August 2015, and after one month of testing, three to four additional train cars will be delivered until all 48 units are operational.
Once completed, this will improve the current three-car configuration to a four-car configuration, allowing more passengers to board for each arrival. Headway or the gap between train arrivals will also be faster, from the current 3 minutes down to 2.5 minutes.
Other MRT 3 improvement projects in 2015 include 6 kilometers’ worth of rail replacement for better safety and faster trips; upgrading of its signaling system and a new radio-communications system also for safety, upgrading of elevators and escalators for convenience; and traction-motors replacement for service reliability. Train overhauling is scheduled for completion in 2016.
A new three-year maintenance contract is also being procured for awarding in the first quarter of 2015, in order to improve MRT 3’s reliability, while the new tap-and-go ticketing system for all three lines will be operational by September 2015 at the latest.
This new common ticketing scheme, or Automatic Fare Collection System, will lessen queuing time and will allow for seamless transfer between each line.
For LRT 1, operations are set to be turned over to the Light Rail Manila Corp. on or before October 2015, at which time civil works for the 11.7-km Cavite Extension may begin. The LRT 2 line will also be extended by 4.2 km to Masinag by 2017, and its operations and maintenance requirements are currently being bid out.