MANILA – Following the successful completion of the rail system’s enormous and comprehensive rehabilitation project, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has declared that the MRT-3 will offer free rides for one month, from March 28 to April 30, 2022.
“I’d like to announce that Secretary Tugade decided that the MRT-3 rides will be free (hindi naman forever) from March 28 to April 30, 2022,” Duterte said.
Duterte made the statement during the MRT-3 rehabilitation project’s completion ceremony on Tuesday, with Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Art Tugade.
Tugade stated that train passengers will be able to ride the MRT-3 for free in all of its stations during the specified dates.
He also emphasized that this will tremendously assist in easing the financial burden of the riding public, particularly in light of inflation, rising fuel prices, and the fact that many Filipino workers are now returning to on-site work.
The free ride initiative is also intended to complement the rail line’s upgraded services, after the DOTr Railway sector, the MRT-3 management, and its maintenance provider, Sumitomo-MHI-TESP completed the rehabilitation works last December 2021, two months ahead of schedule.
After its rehabilitation, the MRT-3 now operates at speed of up to 60 kilometers per hour from the previous 25 kph.
The number of trains has also increased from as few as 13, now up to 23 operational trains.
Meanwhile, the headway, or time between trains, has been shortened from about 10 minutes to as low as 3.5 minutes.
“Gumanda at nagbago ang ridership natin, bago mag pandemya — 260,000. Ngayon, as I speak, bagamat may pandemya, ‘yung ridership natin ay umaabot sa 280,000. At hangarin namin yung ridership kapag nailagay lahat ‘yan [23 trains] ay magiging 600,000 per day. Ito ang legasiyang iiwanan ng Duterte administration sa MRT-3 (The MRT-3 ridership has improved, before pandemic – 260,000. Now, despite the pandemic, our ridership has been hitting 280,000. Our goal is to make it 600,000 per day once all 23 trains start to operate. This is the legacy of the Duterte administration in MRT-3),” Tugade said.
Under the MRT-3 rehabilitation project, all of its 72 Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) were restored, rail tracks were replaced and rehabilitated.
Also upgraded were the line’s power supply, overhead catenary system, communications and signaling system, stations, as well as depot facilities and equipment.
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