LRT passengers inch up 1.3% in January

MANILA, Philippines - The volume of passengers using the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system rose 1.3 percent in January even as fewer trains ply routes during peak hours.

Data from the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) showed that the number of passengers serviced by Lines 1 and 2 reached 21.72 million in January, about 280,000 more than 21.44 million passengers carried in the same period last year.

The number of trains plying Line 1 went down to 51 last month from 55 in the same month in 2013 while trains plying Line 2 remained at 12.

The load factor for LRT-1 decreased to 91.3 percent from 97.6 percent last year while that of LRT-2 rose to 58 percent from 52.8 percent.

The LRTA reported that passenger volume at the LRT-1 servicing the Taft Ave. – Rizal Ave. route between Baclaran in Paranaque and the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City went up 1.32 percent to 15.31 million from 15.11 million.

On the other hand, passenger volume of LRT-2 that traverses the cities of Manila, Pasig, Marikina, Quezon, and San Juan rose 1.26 percent to 6.41 million from 6.33 million.

LRTA spokesman Hernando Cabrera earlier said the increasing number of passengers for both rail lines has become a trend.

“It is something of a trend that the ridership has been increasing every month and every year,” he said.

He noted, however, that the condition of the trains running along the LRT lines have been deteriorating over the past years, resulting to less trains running during peak hours.

Last year, the  volume of LRT passengers rose one percent to 243.15 million from 241.05 million in 2012 even as the number of LRT-1 trains went down to 53 from 57, while those of LRT-2 fell to 10 from 11.

The passenger volume at LRT-1 reached 171.8 million, while that of LRT-2 hit 71.45 million.

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.

Several groups are reportedly joining the rebidding. These include SMC Infra Resources Inc. of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., Light Rail Manila Consortium led by infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), DMCI Holdings Inc., Megawide Construction Corp., Spanish rail transport operator Globalvia Inversiones SAU, Malaysian-owned MTD Philippines Inc. and Ecorail Transport Services.