Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 4) — Commuters taking the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) may pay more by early next year as its management prepares to file a fresh fare hike petition within the week.
During a briefing on Monday, Jorjette Aquino, Department of Transportation (DOTr) assistant secretary for railways and MRT-3 officer-in-charge and, said they are proposing to raise the distance fare (₱0.21) and boarding fee (₱2.29). She noted that the planned fare adjustments were similar to the approved hikes of the LRT Lines 1 and 2.
Aquino said processing the proposed fare hike may take three months, with the target implementation date eyed by the end of March or early April.
Once the MRT-3’s petition gets the go signal, the current minimum fare of ₱13 will increase to ₱16, while the end-to-end fare of ₱28 from North Avenue to Taft Avenue stations will increase to ₱34.The DOTr official said the government has been running the train system “at a loss” as it has been nine years since the last fare hike.While there was a 20% increase in annual passenger ridership from around 98 million in 2022 to 170 million from January to October this year, Aquino said there is an existing ₱6.2-billion deficit because passengers should have been paying ₱69 for end-to-end trips instead of ₱28.As a result, the DOTr said the government has been subsidizing each end-to-end MRT-3 passenger by ₱41.Citing the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) comments on the petition, the DOTr said the proposed ₱16 minimum fare petition and end-to-end fare of ₱34 will increase the government subsidy.Additional revenue will provide financial support to the DOTr, which in turn, will actually ease yung [the] pressure from the national government to increase its subsidy for MRT-3,” Aquino said.She said proceeds from the fare adjustment will be spent on the maintenance and operating expenses of the train line. In particular, Aquino identified the purchase of travel safety equipment and configuration of four-car train sets, which she said can cater to 1,576 passengers for each train set.
