LRT fare hike petition raises concerns from Gen Z commuters

By Jose Angelo Ycasiano

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) announced a petition to increase the fares for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines 1 and 2— a decision not well received by regular commuters.

The LRT fare hike proposal was part of a petition to increase fares for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) proposed by the Department of Transportation-MRT (DOTr-MRT) Line 3 to the Rail Regulatory Unit (RRU) on January 26, this year.

In the Notice of Public Hearing from the DOTr’s website, where the petition was attached, the new base fare for LRT will also follow the proposed base fare for MRT.

The price of "Beep Cards" or stored value tickets will increase from P11 to P13.29.while the base fare for single journey tickets will increase from P15 to between P20 to P30.

LRTA Administrator Hernando Cabrera, one of the board members that approved this petition, stated that they wanted to raise fares in order to reduce subsidies from the national government.

“We want to rationalize the fares compared to other modes of transportation para mabawasan ang subsidy na binibigay ng national government,” Cabrera said in an Philippine Star article written by Ghio Ong.

In the public hearing, the officials from the LRTA received strong criticism from stakeholders due to this very reason.

During the public hearing, the LRTA board officials stood by their reason to have subsidies decreased since they wanted to fund LRT-related projects as well.

Some of these projects include the restoration of four down trainsets, the replacement of roll-up grilles in LRT-2 stations and an LRTA Mobile Application, all expected to be done within the next three years if the fare hike were to be implemented.

“Unreasonable” fare hike

Some commuters claimed that the fare hike petition is unreasonable, stating that there is no need for the LRTA to decrease the subsidies given to them.

University of Santo Tomas student Isaiah Felarca argued that the government should increase the subsidies given to the LRTA since he believes that the government is able enough to “make ends meet.”

“In theory, [the government] has the power, so if they would commit towards other things, such as other projects that could help fund LRT, then they would be able to make ends meet, funding the LRT without making commuters suffer,” he explained.

Far Eastern University (FEU) student Juancho Telan thought that the petition was unreasonable due to the country's ongoing high rate of inflation.

“Mas magiging mahirap since madami din nag-taas ng presyo lately, so mahihirapan lahat,” he said.

In the Philippine Statistics Authority inflation report for January 2023, the headline inflation rate increased by 0.6 percent, from 8.1 percent to 8.7 percent.

Lesser choices for commuters

Some commuters felt like they were being forced to take other modes of public transportation upon hearing about another fare hike for a public transportation method.

Felarca related the jeepney fare increase that was issued back in October 2022 to the LRT fare hike petition.

“When the jeepney fare increased, a lot of people are now worried about transportation being inaccessible to a lot, so now it becomes like, not a priority, but it becomes a hindrance to other people to not choose jeepneys, and in this case, the LRT trains,” Felarca said.

Back on September 16, last year, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board announced that jeepneys were to get a fare hike, increasing from the base fares of P12 to P14 to P13 to P15.

FEU student Sirliam Galvez would accept the fare hike unwillingly since he also needs to consider the travel time in other modes of public transport in exchange for cheaper fares.

“My travel time in LRT takes about 20 to 30 minutes, while if I use jeepneys, it will take me about an hour, so it will make things difficult for me since I have to adjust a lot just to commute to class,” he said.

The DOTr remained true to its promises to consumers not only to not raise the present of LRT but also the MRT and the Philippine National Railways current fares.