Unrest looms over MRT, LRT fare hike

The Aquino administration winds down 2014, barreling into a smoldering storm of public unrest triggered by the 50- to 87-percent fare increase in Metro Manila’s elevated railway system starting Jan. 4.

The administration slugged commuters with the new fares at the worst possible season, coming as it were on top of the deteriorating mass transit facilities of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) and Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 (LRT-1 and LRT-2).

The three lines transport 1.2 million passengers daily. MRT-3 alone carries more than half a million passengers a day, but its capacity is only 350,000. Years of neglect and daily operations have stretched beyond limit MRT’s capacity, rendering it vulnerable to constant breakdowns.

The controversy was touched off by the decision of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to go ahead with implementing fare increases it decreed on Dec. 20.

Under the price structure published by the DOTC, commuters are to pay fares for end-to-end trips on the three lines at the following rates:

LRT-1: P29 for stored-value fare and P30 for single journey from the current P20 (from Baclaran station in Pasay City to Roosevelt in Quezon City and vice versa).

LRT-2: P24 for stored-value fare and P25 for single journey from the current P15 (from Recto in Manila to Santolan in Pasig City and vice versa).

MRT-3: P28 from the current P15 (from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City and vice versa).

The DOTC approved the rates in 2011.

The new rates sparked widespread public furor and came under heavy attack from lawmakers and civil society groups.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya justified the fare increases, saying these would result in marked improvements in the LRT and MRT services.

Abaya said “it was time to do what is right—that is, to charge fares closer to those on air-conditioned buses [along Edsa].”

In going ahead with its decision, the administration was turning a deaf ear to the clamor to suspend the increases until it can show improvements in the services of the metro rail system.

What galvanized public protests was the fact that the administration stonewalled against the clamor to abort the fare increases and flaunted its insensitivity and arrogance to multisectoral demands.

In an act that rubbed salt on raw wound, the administration not only pulled out its existing subsidies to the rail system but also sought to shift the responsibility of providing financial support to a cheap mass transport system in the National Capital Region.

Congestion to worsen

A civil society group, Train Riders Network (TREN), said the fare increases would prove disadvantageous to the public, especially the poor. It claimed the fare increases would worsen the “already monstrously congested” traffic condition in Metro Manila, as these would drive many commuters to take jeepneys and buses.

TREN cited a study by Japan International Cooperation Agency, which said that every day the Philippine economy loses at least P2.4 billion to traffic chaos.

The economy stands to lose more if the citizens are disenfranchised from using the trains, according to the civil society group, arguing that government management of the trains and not fare increases should guarantee improved services.

In withdrawing subsidies from the Metro train systems, the administration is seeking refuge in privatizing the operation of public utilities.

The antisubsidy policy of the Aquino administration is anchored on the President’s State of the Nation Address last year in which he argued against the government subsidizing MRT and LRT fares. He pegged the amount of subsidy at P25 for every LRT trip and P45 for the MRT.

“In the end, each and every Filipino pays a share in the subsidy, whether you live in Mindanao or the Visayas, and not once have you ever stepped onto the LRT or MRT, you help to fund this,” he said.

P12B annual subsidy

“Perhaps, it is only reasonable for us to move the fares closer to the fares on air-conditioned buses, so the government subsidy for the MRT and LRT can be used for other social services.”

The fare increases are aimed at reducing the P12 billion in annual subsidies by P2 billion, according to the DOTC. The P2 billion is equivalent to 8,240 classrooms or 11,440 hectares of irrigated farmlands.

The DOTC said the government was subsidizing about 60 percent of fares for LRT-1 and LRT-2, and about 75 percent of fares for MRT-3.

Malacañang didn’t say what mechanism would ensure that proceeds from the fare increases would be channeled to “other social services” productively.

Questions are being asked whether fare increases would be siphoned into a huge pork barrel fund to finance public works projects through such schemes as the Disbursement Acceleration Program rather than to improvements in the metro rail system to make it more efficient and safer for commuters to travel between their homes and jobs.

Immediate concern

Of more immediate concern for commuters is safe travel on the trains. Over the past few months, the system has drawn criticism for recurrent breakdowns due to mechanical glitches.

In August, MRT-3 was forced to suspend operations due to mechanical and communication failures. The 15-year-old MRT has been plagued by technical problems and overcrowding.

The worst of these train service disruptions, due to maintenance shortfalls, took place on Aug. 13, with the derailment of a southbound train that sent almost 40 people to hospital for injuries.

Passenger safety has come off as the more critical issue plaguing the elevated railways system than the source of subsidies for the entire system.

It involves life and death issues over whether the trains become funeral corteges of accident victims. This should be stopped.