By Brian Jules Campued
The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) on Wednesday, Jan. 3, announced a record-high number of passengers since the COVID-19 pandemic, totaling 49,428,465 of ridership in 2023.
This exceeded the 31,639,345 total rides it recorded in 2022.
In 2021, the LRTA Line 2 (LRT-2) logged about 11,842,954 ridership and 12,502,315 in 2020.
“Mas maraming pasahero rin ang tumangkilik sa LRT-2 noong ikatlo at huling kwarter ng 2023 matapos ipatupad ang taas -pasahe noong Agosto,” the LRTA said in a statement.
The fare adjustment for LRT-2 was implemented on Aug. 2 of last year.
“Mula sa 3,814,038 na ridership noong Hulyo (2023), tumaas ito ng 4,367,080 noong Agosto 2023,” it noted.
The month of October saw the highest overall ridership of some 4,694,768 passengers, while the months of September, December, November, August, March, and May likewise surpassed 4 million rides each.
The 2024 projection of the LRTA sees a 2.57% increase in ridership which could reach to about 50,700,402.
“Inaasahan ng pamunuan ng LRTA na tataas pa ang average daily ridership ng LRT-2 ngayong 2024. Ito ay dahil sa full face-to-face na ang karamihan sa mga eskwelahan at mga trabaho sa opisina,” the LRTA stressed. –cf