Staggered hikes for train fares

THE looming fare hike at the Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit (LRT) won’t be sudden, Transportation and Communications Secretary (DOTC) Manuel Roxas 2nd said Wednesday.

Roxas made the announcement after the House of Representatives approved the P34.6 billion proposed DOTC budget for 2012 in less than 10 minutes.

“It [fare hike] will be staggered. Hindi naman pwedeng biglaan ito. [It can’t be sudden]. The talks on fare hike have been going on dating back to the previous administration, but there is no timetable for it yet,” Roxas told reporters.

Under the proposed 2012 budget, the Aquino administration allotted P4.9 billion for subsidy for MRT-3—a P2.3 billion reduction compared with the 2011 subsidy pegged at P6.92 billion.

“I can’t say if there would be fare hike this year. But as long as we have the money and as long as we can shoulder it, there won’t be fare hike. We still have to know how long the government can sustain its subsidy. As of now, we still have money so the subsidy stays,” Roxas argued.

Roxas, however, conceded that a fare hike needs to be implemented considering that the government also has to earmark funding for infrastructure projects in Visayas and Mindanao—an initiative hampered by the fact that there is a huge difference between the fare in an air conditioned bus and the MRT 3 plying North Avenue-EDSA to EDSA Taft.

A passenger would have to pay P37 in an air conditioned bus ride from North Avenue-EDSA to EDSA Taft—more expensive than the P15 MRT ride from North Avenue-EDSA to EDSA Taft.

“Who would want to pass the burden on the passengers? But we have to face the fact that we have limited resources and that it [MRT service] has costs, namely electricity, maintenance, spare parts. We are not saying that the MRT fare would exceed that of the buses. We’ll just try to inch it closer [to the bus fare] so that the savings the government will generate [from the MRT fare hike] can be earmarked to the country side,” Roxas pointed out.

Improvement first
Roxas clarified that the MRT services, especially its maintenance, should be improved first before proceeding with the fare hike.

The Transportation and Communications department Chief disclosed that his team is already working on buying spare parts and buying additional trains to reduce overloading of passengers which causes the delay.

“We want the public to experience good service before the pay more,” Roxas added in closing.

But for opposition lawmakers House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, House Deputy Minority Leader Danilo Suarez and House Assistant Minority Leader Mitos Magsaysay as well as Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna Party-list, the subsidy for the MRT passengers should stay because it is a part of government service.

“If he [Roxas] is saying that those in Visayas and Mindanao should not pay for the government services in Metro Manila, it will be as good as saying that the Metro Manila taxpayers cannot pay for the infrastructure projects in Visayas in Mindanao. That is wrong,” Magsaysay said in a separate press conference.

“It seems that the DOTC is just pushing for the fare hike to make the MRT profitable for private companies to invest under the Aquino government’s Public-Private Partnership scheme,” Casiño added. –Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter, Manila Times