Higher LRT 1 and 2 fare charge starts Wednesday

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

Beginning Wednesday, riders of the LRT Line 1 will pay a boarding fare of P13.29 and a distance fare of P1.21 per kilometer, an increase from the P11 boarding rate and P1 per kilometer rate.

Th is means that a minimum fare of P14 and a maximum fare of P35 for stored value cards (SVCs) will be collected by LRT 1 operator Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC). Single journey tickets (SJTs), on the other hand, will range from P15 to P35 from between P12 and P30.

“ Through the years, LRMC has remained committed to its mission of providing a safe, reliable, efficient, and comfortable journey for LRT 1 commuters. Despite the absence of fare adjustments in previous years, we have established major improvements in the 38-year-old railway line with the increase in trains deployed to service more commuters; improved headway or waiting time; station rehabilitation and expansion; and the construction of LRT 1 Cavite Extension Project. We are determined to give people back their time through efficient transport and put more value to every single peso that our passengers spend for every LRT-1 ride,” LRMC COO Rolando J. Paulino III said.

Meanwhile, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), which operates LRT 2, will start charging a minimum fare of P13 and a maximum of P33 for SVCs, while fares for SJT shall range from P15 to P35.

The Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) Rail Regulatory Unit earlier approved the upward adjustment for fares for both train lines, employing an “inflation rebasing formula” based on the 2018 rates.

The unit has said the approval for LRT 2 was based on the LRTA’s deficit for 2023, projected to be less than P8.5 billion. The government-owned corporation is operating at a loss and is relying on government subsidies for its operations and maintenance, as reflected in its financial performance in 2022 when it incurred a deficit of about P7 billion.

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The additional fare will be used to fix and improve the facilities and services of the LRT 2. The last fare adjustment for the line was implemented in 2015,” the DOTr said in a news statement released on Monday.

On the part of LRMC, its fare deficit vis-à-vis the notional fare prescribed in its concession agreement with the government is P1.46 billion. As of January 2023, LRMC’s actual fare is 50 percent behind the notional fares, a gap that “will exponentially increase.”

LRT 1 last implemented a fare increase in 2015. Since 2016, LRMC has filed four petitions for a rate increase. But these were all deferred.

For the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, Transportation Undersecretary Cesar Chavez said the petition for fare increase is still with the Office of the Secretary.

H istorically, once approved, a fare hike will be implemented within “three months.”

“ We will await the referral of the Office of the Secretary to my office, the rail regulatory unit,” he said.

The petition calls for “almost the same” increase in fares for the two overhead lines.

C havez explained that the increase would help cushion the equity rental payments that the government shells out to lease the MRT 3 from MRT Holdings Inc.

The government pays between P600 million and P900 million per month—depending on the inflation—to MRT Holdings to rent the facility under the buildlease-transfer (BLT) agreement that it signed with the company in the 90s.

The concession agreement for the BLT agreement will lapse in 2025.

Much like LRT 1, the government aims to privatize the other two lines by auctioning off their operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts as a “bundle.” coordinate with Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. to get their input on his proposed Department of Corrections.

Th is exercise is expected to be started next year, Chavez said.

The Philippines’ jail management system is disjointed. Its prison and penal facilities are under the BuCor of the DOJ, while its district, city, and municipal jails are under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) of the DILG. The provincial jails are under the supervision of the provincial governments.

A ccording to data from BuCor, the NBP and other penal facilities it manages currently house around 51,500 inmates nationwide. But the total capacity of all these jails is estimated at only 12,250 inmates, which leads to a congestion rate of 321 percent.

T he congestion rate alone of the NBP, the largest mega-prison in the world, is 377 percent, as its current population of 30,701 is only enough for 6,500 inmates.

M eanwhile, the ideal custodial officer-to-inmate ratio is 1 is to 7, but in BuCor’s penal facilities, the ratio is at 1 is to 30, according to the bureau’s data.

Narag, in response to Yamsuan’s proposal, agreed that it would be best to create a single authority to manage the government’s jail, corrections, and probation systems.

Looking at the Filipino culture, I do believe that if we get the BJMP out of the DILG, we get the BuCor out of the DOJ, we get the [Board of

Pardons and Parole] out of the DOJ, and we get the provincial jails out of the provincial government, and we put them all together into one agency, that would be a more systematic way to address the problems,” Narag said.

T he chief of the BJMP, Jail Director Ruel Rivera, also backed Yamsuan’s proposal to integrate the country’s fragmented jail management systems.

B ukidnon 2nd District Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores, chairperson of the House Committee on Government Reorganization and who was also present at the briefing, said he was looking forward to Yamsuan’s bill on creating this new line agency.

Narag himself is a prime example of the injustices suffered by PDLs as a result of the country’s fragmented and grossly inefficient criminal justice system. Narag spent seven years of his life in pre-trial detention after he was suspected of involvement in the death of another student from a rival fraternity. Narag was eventually found innocent of the allegations against him.

D uring the briefing, lawyer Antonio Pido of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) narrated how the organization had assisted a PDL who had already completed serving his sentence but endured several years more in jail because of the incomplete paperwork for his release and another who was already in detention but was still known to be “at large” by law enforcement agencies.