Speak now or forever hold your beef against the proposed fare increase on Metro Manila’s trains.
“The Department of Transportation and Communications on Thursday said it will start public consultation on the planned fare hike for the Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit on Dec 12,” reports Lawrence Agcaoili in The Philippine Star.
The public consultation will be held at the LRT Line 2 depot in Santolan, Pasig City from 2pm to 5pm.
On the table is the proposed fare increase which will be implemented for the next two years. Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya gave an indication that the government planned to peg the increase at PHP5 annually.
The national government — meaning taxpayers from all over the country, whether they ride the train system or not — shoulders the actual cost of the fare to keep ticket prices at PHP15 from end to end. The actual prevailing cost of the same trip is PHP45.
Government estimates peg the subsidies given to the train system at PHP75 billion over the past decade.
Photo by Sky Harbor (Wikipedia)
