DOTC favors business over public
The Department of Transportation and Communications under the present Aquino administration has announced, through its Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo M. Lotilla: “I think we’ve already reached an agreement with all parties. We haven’t written it yet. In principle, we have agreed to undertake the two-station approach.”
Translated: The proponents of LRT-1, LRT-7 and MRT-3 have yielded to the DOTC decision to adopt the two-station approach (instead of a single station) to effect the transfer of passengers from any of the three lines to any of the other two lines in order to proceed to their respective destinations.
Consequences:
Article continues after this advertisement- Building two stations instead of one will raise costs by approximately 50 percent.
- The cost of operating two stations, instead of one, could likewise possibly increase by 50 percent.
- Most importantly, the two-station approach in effect penalizes, for the lifetime of the system, the affected passengers by way of higher fares, which will be necessary for the LRT proponents to recover the costs—not to mention the physical inconvenience and emotional stress the “line transfers” will force upon the passengers.
Post-mortem: The benefits generated by the “foot traffic” to mall developers would cause delays and added costs on the part of the passengers. This “creates the spectacle” of “government at work” favoring business interests over those of the general public. Public disenchantment will follow.
—ALFREDO V. ASUNCION, [email protected]
