MRT-3 FREE RIDES. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (right at foreground) inspects the train as he rides from Shaw Boulevard Station to Santolan Station following the completion ceremony of the Metro Rail Transit Line-3 (MRT-3) rehabilitation project at the Shaw Boulevard Station in Mandaluyong City on March 22, 2022. For the past 10 weekdays, the MRT-3 logged over 350,000 daily passengers, culminating in another record-high 370,713 passengers served on Wednesday (June 8, 2022). (Presidential photo by Ace Morandante)
MANILA – The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) continues to log record-high daily ridership in June, the third month of its “libreng sakay (free ride)” program.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, the rail line said a total of 370,713 passengers were served on Wednesday -- breaking Tuesday’s record of 370,276 since it resumed operations in June 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Ito ay resulta ng pagpapatupad ng libreng sakay ng MRT-3 at pagpapatakbo ng mas maraming train sets, na binubuo ng nasa 14 hanggang 16 3-car CKD train sets, at apat na four-car CKD train sets (This is the result of the free rides at MRT-3 and having more train sets running, made up of 14 to 16 three-car CKD train sets and four four-car CKD train sets),” it said.
Wednesday’s ridership made 10 straight weekdays where the MRT-3 served over 350,000 passengers.
“Matatandaan na nasa 250,000 hanggang 300,000 mga pasahero ang sumasakay sa MRT-3 kada araw bago magsimula ang pandemya noong Marso 2020 (It may be recalled that around 250,000 to 300,000 passengers took a ride at the MRT-3 daily before the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020),” it said.
Earlier, it highlighted that there had been zero unloading incidents or train breakdowns at the MRT-3 since July 16, 2020, due to its “massive” rehabilitation.
Before President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in 2016, unloading incidents and breakdowns of MRT-3 trains were common but have decreased over time -- with 586 unloading incidents in 2016, 463 in 2017, 57 in 2018, 28 in 2019, and zero incidents since 2020.
The free ride program at the MRT-3 began in March and has since been extended repeatedly, with the program set to end on June 30. (PNA)
