Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 8) — Transport officials on Wednesday announced plans to ease commuters’ woes, as MRT-3 trains continued their breakdown at rush hour, following the termination of a contract with the transit sytem’s maintenance provider.
From November 10, special point-to-point (P2P) buses will run during rush hours to cater to those who are unable to ride the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3).
The meeting came after Transportation Undersecretary for Rail Cesar Chavez said on Tuesday that the government will deploy fewer train sets on the MRT-3 so that commuters do not experience many breakdowns.
Read: DOTr deploying fewer MRT-3 train sets to lessen passenger inconvenience
In the morning, passengers can take the P2P buses from North Avenue in Quezon City. The buses will then drop off passengers in Ortigas, before heading to the endpoint in Ayala Avenue, Makati City.
In the evening, commuters can board the buses on two separate pick-up points — one in Taft Avenue in Pasay City, and the other in Ayala Avenue — before heading straight to North Avenue without any stops.
The P2P buses will charge P24 per ride — the same fare as the MRT for those routes.
Authorities said they will also apprehend private vehicles traversing the yellow lanes, which are meant for buses.
The P2P buses will also be escorted by patrols of the Land Transportation Office to prevent any unecessary delays.
A dry run of the new scheme is scheduled Thursday.
The MRT-3 traverses five cities from Pasay in the south to Quezon City in the north and serves half a million people each day. It runs only 20 three-coach trains at most during peak hours due to power constraints.
On Tuesday morning, the government ran only 13 train sets.
The first day of the new policy to reduce the number of train sets was marred with a southbound train that was taken out of service after breaking down at 6 a.m. on Tuesday due to a technical problem, leading to long lines, especially at the Quezon Avenue and North Avenue stations.
The government took over the MRT-3’s maintenance on Monday from Busan Universal Rail, Inc., which the government accused of poor performance.
Read: DOTr: Gov’t to take over MRT maintenance
Chavez said the government is aiming to deploy 18 reliable train sets “within the next few days,” adding it is conducting a “massive procurement” of spare parts and personnel to rehabilitate the MRT-3.
Read: DOTr: Expect better MRT-3 service in 3-6 months
