LRT passenger volume inches up in 2013

MANILA, Philippines - The volume of Light Rail Transit (LRT) passengers inched up one percent last year despite the lower number of trains running during peak hours.

Data from the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) showed that passengers serviced by the two LRT lines reached 243.15 million last year or about 2.2 million more than the 241.05 million carried in 2012.

The growth in the volume of passengers has been constrained due to the less number of trains running during peak hours. The number of trains plying the LRT 1 is down to 53 last year from 57 in 2012 while that of LRT 2 was down to 10 from 11.

This translated to a higher load factor for both lines as that of LRT 1 increased to 94.7 percent from 90.2 percent while that of LRT 2 improved to 60 percent from 47.9 percent.

The LRTA reported that passenger volume at LRT 1 servicing the Taft Ave. – Rizal Ave. route between Baclaran in Pasay City and the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City reached 171.8 million last year or 1.08 million higher than the previous year’s 170.72 million.

On the other hand, passenger volume of LRT 2 that traverses the cities of Manila, Pasig, Marikina, Quezon and San Juan reached 71.45 million or 1.12 million higher than 70.33 million.

LRTA spokesman Hernando Cabrera said the increasing number of passengers for both LRT 1 and LRT 2 has become a trend.

 â€œIt is something of a trend that the ridership has been increasing every month and every year,” Cabrera said in a text message.

Earlier, Cabrera said the conditions of the trains have been deteriorating over the past years resulting to less trains running during peak hours.

He said there are only 27 trains or 92 light rail vehicles running every day although the ideal number is 33 trains or 115 light rails vehicles as the agency is already encountering problems in the sourcing of spare parts for the trains that have been running for 30 years.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is set to rebid the P65 billion LRT 1 Cavite extension project in April after a failed bidding last Aug. 15.

A total of six groups ­­– SMC Infra Resources Inc. of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., Light Rail Manila Consortium led by infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), construction giant DMCI Holdings Inc., Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp., Spanish rail transport operator Globalvia Inversiones SAU, Malaysian-owned MTD Philippines Inc. ­– are joining the rebidding.

The DOTC is giving interested bidders until April 28 to submit their bids for the proposed LRT1 extension project. It has decided to expedite a single-stage process wherein interested groups would submit their qualification documents simultaneously with their technical and financial proposals to shorten the process by at least two months.