MRT-3 fare hike still under study – Abaya

MANILA, Philippines - The proposed fare increase for the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3), the mass rail line along EDSA from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, is still under study.

 â€œNo decision yet, this is still being considered,” Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told the House committee on appropriations yesterday. “The next step we will take would be to conduct mass consultation.”

He said the plan is to fix a minimum fare of P11, plus P1 for every additional kilometer traveled.

“So if you travel just a short distance, you pay P11. If you travel farther, you pay more. We calculate that the average passenger would pay P5 more,” Abaya said.

According to Abaya, the MRT-3 line is a profitable operation – it earned P2.1 billion in passenger fares last year alone, while its operating expenses amounted to P1.8 billion, for a net income of P300 million.

Taxpayers, however, will continue to subsidize the mass rail transit line to the tune of more than P4 billion in 2014. This is because the government is paying for the facility, plus a reasonable profit margin, Abaya said.

He said the payments go to MRT Corp. (MRTC), the private entity that built the rail line.

The Sobrepeñas, who founded College Assurance Plan, one of the pioneers in the pre-need industry that grew big and later floundered, used to control MRTC. Abaya said MRTC’s ownership is now a mystery to him.

 â€œThe company has sold its economic interest or cash flow to Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines, but it retains its political interest or ownership of the MRT-3 line. We have information that the Sobrepeñas have also sold out. The two government-owned banks would be in a better position to clarify the ownership issue,” he said.

He said he is pushing hard for the government to buy out the remaining private interest in the line so it can start modernizing it.

 He said the present situation is very difficult for the government, because “we are half in, half out.”