MRT rides free next 3 Wed for nat’l ID holders
Commuters who take the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) will get to ride for free on Wednesdays for the whole month of August if they present their national identification (ID) card.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) made this announcement in a Facebook advisory on Wednesday morning, saying the free rides can be availed of from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
“The Libreng Sakay (free ride) is in line with the goal of President Marcos to encourage the use of the National ID to make transactions easier, whether public or private, and for faster and more inclusive delivery of social services,” the DOTr said.
To qualify for the free rides, passengers should present at MRT 3 stations any form of their national ID cards, whether the physical card itself, a printed copy or the digital version.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon, on the other hand, said the agency was looking at opening the MRT 3 and both lines of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to other providers of card payment systems by next year.
The DOTr is currently implementing a pilot test of the cashless payment scheme at the MRT 3, allowing passengers to pay for their fare through GCash or debit and credit cards.
The rollout, however, has encountered complaints about tap-out errors due to system glitches. This prompted the DOTr to offer free train tickets to those who will experience failed tap-out transactions.
In a statement on Wednesday, Dizon said that by introducing other providers of card payment systems, train riders would have more choices.
The DOTr chief also addressed the complaints aired in an open letter by former Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Heidi Mendoza, who pointed to the shortage of stored value cards in train stations, broken ticket vending machines, long ticket lines for senior citizens and the need for a wider dissemination of advisories for suspended train operations.
Budget cut
Mendoza said she wrote the letter to Dizon in the hopes that it would help him convince Congress to give the DOTr a bigger maintenance budget.
In response, Dizon said he has already instructed the supplier of Beep stored value cards, which are used for all three train lines, to supply more cards.
The DOTr is also coordinating with the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group to go after those selling fake Beep cards online, he added.
“[W]hat’s worse is due to the shortage, there are those taking advantage of that on the internet and selling fake Beep cards,” Dizon said.
Speedier repairs
As for the broken ticket vending machines, he said he has instructed train line operators to hasten repairs and the purchase of new machines. Contractors have been warned that they will be fined if they fail to immediately fix the issue, according to Dizon.
As for the long lines at the ticket booths for senior citizens or persons with disabilities (PWD) availing of a discount, Dizon said the DOTr is already in talks with the COA on ways to make the process easier.
“We are trying our best to make this easier but you know, ma’am, our staff at COA are really scary, that’s why we are also talking to them to make this faster. Maybe you can help us explain to COA that we don’t want the passengers, especially the seniors and PWDs, to be burdened,” Dizon told Mendoza.
There are also exclusive Beep stored value cards for seniors and PWDs, which automatically grant them a 50-percent discount, he added.
As for Mendoza’s comment on the lack of an advisory about the suspension of train operations, Dizon noted that the LRT Line 2 on Tuesday had to partially suspend operations after lightning struck a train’s catenary wire near the Antipolo station. Operations, however, returned to normal after an hour while shuttle vans were deployed to ferry stranded passengers.
“We will really try our best, even if, as you said, the DOTr had a huge budget cut this year, particularly for maintenance,” Dizon said to Mendoza. “But we will continue to follow the directives of [President Marcos] to check every day what needs to be fixed in order to make the difficult daily commute more convenient and comfortable for our countrymen.”
