Fare hike for LRT Line 1,2 takes effect August
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved a fare increase for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 to take effect August 2, Department of Transportation (DOTr) officials announced on Monday.
In a press conference in Pasay City, Assistant Transportation Secretary for Railways Jorjette Aquino said the fare increase for LRT 1 and 2 were approved by Marcos in a Cabinet meeting last June 6.
"During the Cabinet meeting held June 6, the Honorable President announced his approval of the proposed fare adjustments schemes for LRT 1 and LRT 2 citing that the headline inflation rate has gone down from 6.6 percent to 6.1 percent while employment figures are improving," she said.
"On June 13, the (DOTr) secretary met with the heads of the LRTA and LRMC (Light Rail Transit Authority and Light Rail Manila Corporation) and informed them of the president to implement the fare adjustment," she added.
Aquino said the earliest date of the implementation of the approved fare increase is 2.29 pesos for boarding fare and 21 centavos per kilometer distance.
"To illustrate the current end-to-end fare of the LRT is at 30 pesos now with the approved fare adjustment the new end-to-end fare would now be at 35 pesos," she said.
LRTA Administrator Hernando Cabrera said aside from the increasing operation and maintenance expenses of the LRT Lines 1 and 2, the fare increase is also important to reduce the government subsidy for rail fares of every riding passenger.
"We have a lot of expenses in operating and maintaining the system... Most of the spare parts comes from abroad so we are affected by the rate of the foreign exchange, the impact of several crisis in the world like Ukraine war, price of gasoline all of this affects our budget to maintain and operate that is why it is the right time to at least decrease the subsidy provided by the government," he said.
Aquino noted that "the actual fare per passenger on an end-to-end trip is at 178 pesos" for LRT.
"With the fare adjustment from 30 pesos to 35 pesos the national government will still have to subsidize 143 pesos per passenger", she added. DMS
