Train to Ubusan: When Your Local Train May Lead You to Harm
Lara Cecilia L. Pono
// Argumentative essay
The recent reports of the Metro Rail Transit System (MRT3) is of course, one of the reasons to abhor the poor management both by the public and private sectors. With the push-and-pull of ownership and how previously-bought trains ought to be incompatible with train tracks up to passengers being forced to walk on the sides of the railings to get away from the faulty train, the working class, the force encompassing the economy’s framework, is at a loss not just from wasted time, but effort and money. The issue needs to be addressed in a large scale to improve the way of living, as I believe this will indirectly impact the nation’s economic growth.
You may have been desensitized to this kind of news already, but any update about the MRT3 having technical issues is alarming at best as to how Philippine economy can actually rise above the ongoing march on a mud puddle, where punctuality may determine a person’s academic excellence, economic growth and income.
Despite the immediate yet rough patchworks done by the previous administrations, the MRT3 has never been better in its rapid decline of quality of service. However, as a main form of transportation for most of the Filipinos within Greater Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces, the wide range of issues affecting travel are being ignored in exchange of hopes of making it to their school, workplace, or home by a significantly lesser amount of time.
Acknowledgment is a response, but not the best for this kind of issue. The government, being a part of this enterprise, must be able to take action without deferral to the private sectors. The infrastructure is being used by the general public, after all.
The MRT3 (or MRT-3), which commonly referred as MRT is the Metro Rail Train System that runs from the Taft Avenue Station in Pasay until the North Avenue Station in Quezon City along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA). Due to recent merges with its kindred LRT, the MRT may also be collectively referred as “Mass Rapid System”, with the particular train line in designated as Yellow Line. This is managed in a partnership by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), a specified part of the then Department of Transportation and Communication, managing the country’s network for transportation systems and services; and by the Metro Rail Transit Company (MRTC) under a Build-Lease-Transfer agreement.
Heavy traffic has been an issue generation after generation, and gets worse over time. The creation of these light rails has helped transit the masses efficiently. More recently, carmaggeddons which generate total gridlocks are being avoided by taking a ride on these trains. Several comparisons made and the MRT3 is an obvious winner in terms of efficiency and costs (CNN Philippines, 2015).
This system however, was not adaptable to the ever-increasing flow of commuters. Given from the MRT3’s website, the average daily commuters reach almost 465,000, while the maximum capacity is lower at 365,000 (DOTC-MRT3). Most of the frequenters come from the station endpoints, namely the North Avenue Station (northbound), and the Taft Avenue Station (southbound) (Palanca, Rappler, 2015). This means that the usual travelers come from either nearby cities (Manila and Pasay for Taft Ave., Quezon City for North Ave.), or beyond.
Despite this much reception from Juan de la Cruz, and maybe because of this excessive usage, that the MRT3 fails to be the reliable and efficient enough way, let alone safe option to travel the metro. The DOTC-MRT3 website displays every recorded technical issue since November 2015, rating each issue into four categories; Category 4 being a status halting services on the train.
Collating data from the management’s web site, the majority of the issues were Category 3, an alarming situation since on this status the passengers are already unloaded from the train to avoid further complications. Further into 2016, Cat 3’s and 4’s persisted, most of these making into early morning or primetime news.
While mainly this is an issue for the government and its partners, the common Filipino commuter will experience repercussions to its workplace, thereby affecting economy.
Last 2015, DOTC then opened ideas such as providing “excuse slips” for employees to show their bosses in the event of a delay caused by the MRT3 (Chavez, 2015). This is reminiscent of how Japanese and German train operators let their passengers know how costly a delay in their schedule is and are sorry for it. Though denied and dismissed by the same department, this clearly does not provide a way to work around the consistent issues.
During that same year the fare hike was also introduced, a whopping 87% increase; the affordable Php15.00 for an end-to-end trip almost doubled to Php28.00 (Nestor, 2015). In order to provide upkeep to a declining system, the DOTC still asked for higher budget to acquire a different maintenance provider. Promise of improved service with new train wagons rose hope in 2016, but actual application never happened due to incompatible structures.
While the series of “epic fails” from the DOTC, and while the nation shifted administrations, the Filipino people consistently experienced faulty trains, averaging of at least four instances a day. By isolating the transportation aspect of the department, DOTr was able to focus on investigating the conduct of its previous officials, opening several senate probes related to suspicious maintenance providers previously hired by DOTC (Colcol, 2017).
This however, does not assure that the train system will be fixed. As much as we see corruption in almost every political project, the main concern is how we will fix these trains. While the private sector volunteered for a rehabilitation--as the Ayala-MPIC (Metro Pacific Investments Corporation) previously joined in the LRT1 venture--this also mean that they want to participate, if not completely investing, in the MRT3 (Dumlao-Abadilla, 2017).
Until we hear both the government and the private sector on the same tune, then we shall have to wait to see progress with the improvement of the MRT3. For now, we just have to hope that the train we hop in would not fail.
UPDATE: By the way, this was just yesterday, Nov. 5, and I have never been to a train coach full of smoke. The train tracks are not fun when you know you’re walking from something that exploded and may explode again
REFERENCES
Service Status | DOTC-MRT3 Official Website. Retrieved 10/31/2017 and 11/06/2017, from https://dotcmrt3.gov.ph/service-status
About Us | DOTC-MRT3 Official Website. Retrieved 11/01/2017, from https://dotcmrt3.gov.ph/about#trains
DOTr – DOTC Mandate, Mission, Vision. Retrieved 10/30/3017, from http://dotr.gov.ph/index.php/2014-09-02-05-01-41/2014-09-03-06-43-32/18-transparency/166-dotc-mandate#mandate
EDSA Time Travel: Fastest by car, bus, or train?, CNN Philippines Staff. CNN Philippines. Retrieved 10/31/2017 from http://cnnphilippines.com/metro/2015/03/06/time-travel-on-edsa.html
Abaya vows better MRT by March 2016. Rappler. Retrieved 11/01/2017, from https://www.rappler.com/business/industries/208-infrastructure/112234-mrt3-improvements-first-quarter-2016
On the MRT: A capacity conundrum. Palanca, Troy. Rappler. Retrieved 11/01/2017, from https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/93492-mrt-capacity-conundrum-data-research
Solon seeks probe of alleged P4M worth of fake safety gear for MRT. Colcol, Erwin. GMA News. Retrieved 11/01/2017, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/622880/solon-seeks-probe-of-alleged-p4m-worth-of-fake-safety-gear-for-mrt/story/
MRT's excuse letters for tardy commuters pathetic. Chavez, Chito. Manila Bulletin. Pressreader. Retrieved 10/31/2017, from https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/manila-bulletin/20150623/281672548584738
DOTC’s proposed budget slashed by P800M. Ager, Maila. Inquirer.net. 11/2015. Retrieved 11/01/2017, from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/742094/dotcs-proposed-budget-slashed-by-p800m
“MRT fare hike not a miracle solution, says Buenafe”. Corrales, Nestor. Inquirer.net Retrieved 11/01/2017, from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/697105/mrt-fare-hike-not-a-miracle-solution-says-buenafe
Privatization answer to MRT woes. MRT website featuring Malaya Business Insight. Retrieved 11/01/2017, from http://mrt3.com/index.php/hidden/9-news/946-privatization-answer-to-mrt-woes.html
Ayala, MVP offer to fix MRT3. Dumalo-Abadilla, Doris. 08/2017. Retrieved 11/02/2017, from http://www.investphilippines.info/arangkada/ayala-mvpoffer-to-fix-mrt3/