MRT official: No more long queues by December

An official of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) on Monday assured that long lines of passengers in train stations will be a thing of the past by yearend.

“Actually, ngayon po, well, may pila sa peak hour pero during off peak, wala nang pila. But by end of the year, siguradong wala na pong pila,” Engr. Deo Manalo, MRT 3 director for operations, said during the Senate public services committee hearing.

Several MRT breakdowns in the past months have prompted the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the supposed inefficient management and maintenance of the train system.

Senator Grace Poe, chair of the committee, said the maintenance and operation of the MRT “are beset with so many problems that it appears that the only solution is to overhaul it completely.”

“Napakalaking perwisyo sa mga pasahero kapag nasisira ang MRT lalo na kapag ilang minuto na silang nakapila tapos tsaka sasabihin na magkakaroon pa ng delay. Trapik na nga sa kalsada pero madalas, mas napapabilis pa byahe nila kapag nagbus na lang sila papunta sa kanilang paroroonan,” Poe said.

Manalo said the MRT system will be able to accommodate more passengers by December 2017 when the power upgrade for additional trains is completed.

Passengers per direction is targeted to increase from the current 17,730 to 23,600, while the daily estimated ridership will increase from 600,000 to 700,000 passengers. —ALG, GMA News