MRT-3 clarifies overstay fee after viral post

MANILA, Philippines — The Metro Manila Railway-3 management on Friday explained why it is charging commuters who overstay in train stations in response to a viral Facebook post.

In a Facebook post Wednesday, a certain Miriam Cabiles said she was asked to pay P28 after waiting for an hour and a half to board a train from Araneta Cubao going to Buendia station.

“[T]o my surprise, probably the biggest surprise of my life, the cashier asked me to payP28 because I overstayed in Cubao…which only happened because the trains that kept on arriving in Cubao were crazy overcrowded that only a person or two could get inside at a time. And I was probably like, fifteenth in line, so imagine how many trains I had to wait for just to be able to hop on,” Cabiles said.

She added: “I was being charged for something that I did not intentionally do. It wasn’t like I chose to lounge around and waste precious time away.”

Cabiles appealed to the Department of Transportation and MRT-3 management to address the matter. 

“I'm expecting that this might happen again in the future, but I don't plan on paying you guys P28 every single time it does. I don't plan on compensating you for your incompetency,” she said.

In response, the MRT-3 management said having a maximum stay period is a standard railway operating procedure “that is implemented for security reasons and to avoid the turnback of passengers.”

MRT-3 said it is being investigated why it took Cabiles one and a half hour to board a train despite 10 regular trains and two skipping trains that stopped in Cubao station.

The management also said that it took Cabiles 13 minutes to exit the Buendia station after alighting from the train.

Of the 351,452 passengers carried by MRT-3 trains on Wednesday, 12 passengers were charged for overstaying.

The management noted that in cases where many passengers will be charged for overstaying at the same time in a particular station due to lack of trains or service interruption, the station supervisor may override a turnstile so that affected commuters may exit without paying the overstay charge.

“The Department of Transportation and MRT-3 will continue to monitor and review the appropriateness of the two-hours overstay parameter given the operating condition of MRT-3,” the management said.