LRT mulling fare adjustment for Line 1

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) is mulling a fare "adjustment" for the LRT Line 1, which runs from Baclaran in Parañaque to Monumento in Caloocan.

LRTA Administrator Teodoro Cruz said that the proposed fare rate adjustment schedule had already been submitted to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) for review. After the DOTC, Cruz said, the proposal will also pass through the Office of the President.

Cruz assured that the planned adjusted fare rate would not necessarily mean a general increase in fare rates from the current uniform P12 a ticket rate.

He said the adjustment would involve the setting of fare according to station similar to the fare rate system implemented at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT), which runs from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue-EDSA in Pasay City.

It was learned that through the proposed adjusted fare rate, passengers who will be riding the entire line from Monumento to Baclaran and vice versa will have to pay P15 from the current P12.

While there will be an increase in the Monumento-Baclaran fare, it was pointed out that passengers stopping at destinations within three stations will only pay a P9 fare from the current P12 uniform rate.

Cruz stressed that the adjustment of fare rates is reasonable in view of the improved conditions at the said rail line.

He pointed out that 65 percent of all trains at the said line are now airconditioned as a result of their program to aircondition all the trains of the line by April next year.

Cruz said that the train airconditioning project was just a component of the massive upgrading program to be implemented by the LRTA and the DOTC on the 20-year-old mass rail system. — Rainier Allan Ronda