Rainier Allan Ronda
Philippine Star

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) will not seek a fare increase for the LRT, and no fare hike is expected for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) despite the rise in fares for buses, jeepneys and taxis.

Melquiades Robles, LRTA administrator, said that although a fare increase could boost revenues and raise funds for maintenance and operating expenses of the agency, they would abide by President Arroyo’s policy of maintaing current fares for LRT lines 1 and 2, and even line 3 or the MRT.

“There has been a need for an increase for a long time. But it has been the policy of the President to help our commuters,” Robles said.

He said the government has effectively subsidized fares to ensure that commuters will have access to an efficient, convenient, environment-friendly mode of transportation amid the rising costs of other public transport.

“In fact, every passenger is subsidized by the government by P30 to P40 per ride,” Robles told reporters yesterday.

He said the government has been consistent in the provision of subsidies for food, electricity and transportation.

For his part, Roberto Lastimoso, MRT general manager, said they have a pending fare hike petition which they file every year before the Office of the President that they do not expect to be granted.

Closing the loop

Meanwhile, the actual construction work on the P6.4-billion LRT Line 1 north extension project that will link the line to the EDSA-bound MRT started yesterday with soil testing conducted by project contractor DMCI-First Balfour consortium.

Robles said they are confident of completing the project in about three years or by May 2010.

“I’m pleased to announce that today, the actual construction work has started after the selection of the contractor for the civil works and other components of the project was done with the completion of a transparent bidding process,” he said. “Our target is for the commissioning of this phase by May 2010.”

Robles, along with other LRTA officials and engineers of the DMCI-First Balfour consortium, witnessed the initial drilling activities for the soil testing at a portion of EDSA near the Monumento Circle in Caloocan City where concrete pillars for the elevated aqueduct of the elevated rail line will be built.

Engineer Edilberto Palisoc, DMCI-First Balfour project manager, said the soil testing was done while the design and construction plan of the project was being finished.

DMCI-First Balfour was the winning bidder for the project’s Packages A and B, which involve the civil works for the railway and station construction of the project.

The P6.4-billion project, touted as the “Closing the Loop” project, will connect the LRT Line 1 and the MRT at the Monumento Station in Caloocan and the North Avenue Station in Quezon City through an entirely elevated railway spanning a 5.4-kilometer stretch of EDSA.

The project will include the construction of three rail stations at the Balintawak interchange, Roosevelt Avenue, and North Avenue, which include plans to develop a park-and-ride complex at one of the stations to enable private vehicle owners to park their cars and take the LRT.

“This is very timely. People are now turning to mass rail transport with fuel prices going up weekly. This is the government’s answer to rising fuel costs,” Robles said.

He said the extension project was expected to increase the average daily passenger volume for both LRT Lines 1 and 2, and the MRT, which government is planning to buy out from the Metro Rail Transit Corp.

Robles said passenger volume at LRT 1 and 2 was increasing steadily with more and more commuters taking mass transport as a result of increasing fares of jeepneys and buses, which are slower.

“Right now, our average ridership is 420,000 on weekdays. When I started here as LRTA chief in 2004, it was around 260,000 passengers a day,” Robles said.

He said LRT 1 and 2 are ready for an increase in passenger volume since they have maximum capacities of 600,000 passengers a day.