One of the disadvantages of living in the southern part of the Metro Manila area is having to commute to the Central Business District(s), a commute that takes the better part of over an hour on neutral days, even worse when traffic piles up on Wednesdays, Fridays, and paydays.
Fortunately, metropolitan commuters who cannot afford the convenience of a car have adjusted to this reality by taking advantage of a strange mix of light rail transportation, the point-to-point multi-passenger vehicles that leave and arrive on a regular basis, and a melange of the usual options such as jeepneys, buses, and FX vehicles that act like taxis that pick up and drop passengers anywhere along a given route. But the option of a light rail transit servicing people going to or coming from our southern area remains a pipe dream for the present. Pity, because this would be the best way to get to the CBD from the south.....or the north.
My family decided to go to Trinoma last week by way of the MRT light rail for a couple of reasons. First, we didn’t want to get saddled with having to wade through traffic to get there from Makati. Second, my in laws and their son were in town from Chicago, and we just wanted them to savor the local mass transportation available. Getting to Trinoma before lunch was not a problem, because we beat the usual lunch crunch. But when I decided to try and get return tickets in advance, I caught the lunchtime crowd and beat a hasty retreat after seeing how long the lines – yes, plural, LINES – were just to get up to the platform and then to line up for tickets. Fortunately, we decided early on to make our return trip around 4PM, beating the crowd once again.
But the sight of the long lines got my noggin working and asking why the system could not be properly addressed and steps taken to alleviate the situation facing prime time travellers. I also recalled one time that I had to make a transfer from the other light rail, the LRT, to the MRT, and gave up because of the extremely long line snaking all over the terminal. Surely, both managements – of the LRT and MRT – should be able to put their heads together to work out a solution to the problem of long waiting periods. This is true especially now that more and more people have decided to take the light rail to save time and money, avoid traffic and parking problems, and so forth. This is a challenge especially tailored for systems designers, the people who try to make things work in an efficient manner. Otherwise, people will flock to the alternatives: buses, jeepneys, tricycles, et al, alternatives that tend to leave a much larger carbon footprint.
If the government is truly serious about a stimulus package (that will, hopefully, not bankrupt the nation or leave our progeny with an even larger debt burden that it hardly needs) it could consider improving mass transportation, especially light rail and regular train service. These are much needed and would certainly be appreciated even by the well-heeled denizens of business and residential enclaves.
Making Mass Transportation More Tenable
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true, the government should provide us with an efficient mass transportation system. will it not only benefit the public but also the government itself because productivity of workers will be increased. less tardiness which results to more income which results to higher taxes which the government use.
Ok :
In singapore you can buy a card which u can use for both bus and trains. so there is no need to que for ticket.and they have double decker buses on service as well.Also may I add that why not revived the bicol express train with the state of the art bullit or maglev. I would be truly happy before I laid to rest to have this dream come true.
Thanks and Best Regards.
francisco
Insightful, but more of a complaint post than a comprehensive discussion. No solutions were presented, or maybe there is none. You might not be aware that there is a special ticket for commuters taking MRT-LRT. It is like a "pass" good for a week. about the cue of lines well you should have suggested other methods to alleviate your concerns. You might be surprised that MRT fares are subsidized, and it is operating at a loss.
I had been taking the LRT and MRT ever since I started working in the year 2000, and I had seen some sort of progress in our mass transit systems - air conditioned coaches, machine readable tickets - but one thing that is still present (and frustratingly so) is the lack of discipline of commuters when boarding the trains.
Common sense (at least to a small handful of people) tells us that allowing passengers to alight from the trains first would make for faster boarding afterwards. You don't go against the flow of outgoing passengers, and there's more room now from them.
But to most people, especially during rush hours, getting on that dang train is the only thing on their minds, never mind getting bumped and suffering dagger looks from the alighting passengers. This results in travel delays for the trains, and added stress for the commuters.
I had long wondered if assigning doors on the trains as entry only and exit only will help solve this problem. But I figured the concept might be too complicated for us commuters. We can't even wrap our heads around the simple (and rather courteous) concept of allowing commuters to alight first.
Modern ticket vending machines - such as those used in Singapore, Hong Kong etc. - would alleviate the problem of long lines. People currently employed as ticket sellers could find continued employment helping commuters and travelers with information and personal concerns.
A significantly upgrade to Metro Manila's public transportation system would also make this city a much more attractive tourist destination and benefit the economy in that way.
Let's get going!
they might want to pattern their ways of selling tickets from what we have in the Bay Area, we can buy monthly passes, one month is $45.00 which is good for the cable cars, buses, Metro underground and train, this monthly pass can also be used in the BART up to a certain location, check out their websites at MUNI and BART (Bay area rapid transit) this is good for those who can buy in advance
Its a common sight to have long lines during rush hour and sometimes during lunch time in LRT especially in MRT.
Since MRT started operations, they haven't purchase new coaches unlike LRT.
The MRT fare is already subsidized by the government so we may not expect new coaches from them.
To alleviate the long lines in MRT, the MRT administration is in talks with the LRT administration with refurbishing old LRT coaches for use in MRT.
Well I hope the old LRT coaches fit in the MRT rails. x)
I think MRT and LRT should start having a "card" that will work for both lines (or is this already implemented?). There are times when I have to take both MRT and LRT and have to go through the long lines twice. This may add convenience - like, if your in U.N. avenue and you have to go to North Edsa, you can buy just one ticket. This is what they do on the other subways/mass rail transportations that I have taken...
Maybe adding more ticket booths can help (not necessarily the automated ones). They are selling the ticket/cards fast, but there are just too many passengers (in my opinion)
I am not sure if this is already being implemented but the last time I rode an MRT and LRT, they had separate cards/tickets.
They should have just one card that anyone can also purchase in a 711 (or any convenient store.
The problem with MRT/LRT tickets is that the only place to purchase them is at their ticket station causing unbearable queues.
They should also add trains during rush hour. And make sure that all aircons work!
I am not sure if they have already made the transfer from LRT to MRT in Edsa more pleasing but last time I used it. It was really a mess.
Yes. I agree that the MRT which used to be very efficient, is now very inefficient. On Monday mornings, crowds flock to the MRT North Ave Station and this is what I call a hell-ish ride. But what angers me more is that when the MRT trains break down, and causes backlog of passengers at the station waiting to get a ride. Sometimes, one has to wait 30 mins. just to get a train ride and this causes many people to be late. Your commute time calculations is suddenly thrown off and even if you gave yourself ample commuting time allowance, you would still arrive at work late. Some people are lucky to have flexi time policies in their company but some don't enjoy such benefit and therefore their pay for the day is diminished if not halved! I always hate it when the MRT breaks down!!!
much improvement is needed to boost up our mass transport system in the urban area, hopefully our good government who are in charge can be more human enough to do the right decision to benefit the masses.
true, true indeed!
MRT is the worst managed of the three lines. LRT and LRT 2 are much better. traffic on EDSA below North Avenue station is limited to 1.5 lanes in the morning due to people queuing up just to get in. people occupy two lanes of edsa. it's been like that for years, my gas! no improvement in the service. people managing the MRT have doctorates on crowd control, but not on the logical solution to the real problem. Beneath the stairs of North avenue station you'll be greeted with the dank stinking smell of stagnant water.
MRT is a nice training ground for football players-- people, even women, are very good at pushing and shoving
maybe the government should look into what HK has done with their light rail system. just last year, they had merged the MTR and KCR to make the transition from one platform to the next more convenient and efficient. maybe it's also possible for the MRT and LRT to merge? ... but then again this is the philippines. when would that possibly happen and would there be enough funds?
at the moment, you are correct to point out that the gov't needs to upgrade its facilities first. long queues are not the only problem i can see from the MTR, there is not enough trains servicing the public. more trains mean we can service more people thus avoiding the long lines inside the station and catering to more ppl who would like to use the public transport.
As ive made so many comments over the last few days I was wondering if you could start publishing a list of the top commenters? I would be very interested!
Absolutely amazin man! I posted some comments before anyway, because lots of your stuff is really informative.
We should all try to use Mass transportation systems and thankfully it is becoming somehow more reliable. why take the car and worsen the climate change scenario if we can travel by mass transport? People do expect to use this facility, this facility from the government should have been the most convenient way to commute but we need to see some more major improvements. Nobody wants to stand in a queue so how about a quicker way to use the transportation.
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