By Brian Campued
A total of 2,841,788 passengers benefitted from free rides on the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), as well as the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) and Line 2 (LRT-2) during the “12 Days of Christmas – Libreng Sakay” program of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) from Dec. 14–25.
In a news release Friday, DOTr Sec. Giovanni Lopez underscored the government’s commitment to making public transportation more inclusive and convenient to all Filipinos—in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to ease the burden on commuters during the holiday season.
“This overwhelming response demonstrates the importance of accessible public transportation in the lives of Filipino families, especially during the Christmas season,” Lopez said.
“We are honored to serve almost 3 million commuters through this program, providing them with safe, reliable, and free transportation as they celebrate the holidays with their loved ones,” he added.
Of the three rail lines, MRT-3 logged the highest ridership with 1,183,950 commuters during the 12-year free ride program. This was followed by LRT-1 with 1,091,951 passengers and LRT-2 with 565,887.
The program gave free rides to various sectors on each day from Dec. 14 to 24 (Christmas Eve), such as senior citizens, students, overseas Filipino workers with their families, teachers, health workers, persons with disability (PWDs), male and female passengers, government employees, families, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, solo parents, private sector employees, “kasambahay” (household helpers), and uniformed personnel veterans and their families.
On Christmas Day, free rides were given to all passengers—resulting in the highest daily ridership during the entire course of the program at 835,777.
The second highest ridership was recorded on Dec. 18 with 550,138 total riders, which consisted of PWDs and male passengers across the three rail lines.
“Mula po sa amin sa pamahalaan, DOTr, MRT-3, LRT-1 at LRT-2, kami po ay nagpapasalamat sa lahat ng tumangkilik sa ating 12 Days of Christmas Libreng Sakay. Asahan po ninyo na patuloy na magpapatupad ang DOTr ng mga programa na magpapagaan sa biyahe ng mga komyuter,” the DOTr chief said.
To accommodate more commuters during the holiday season, the DOTr has also deployed one of its three-car Dalian train sets on MRT-3 beginning on Christmas Day.
Lopez assured that safety and utilization procedures were first conducted before the deployment of the China-made train set, which can carry up to over 1,000 passengers each journey.
Meanwhile, the MRT-3 and LRT-2 will also be giving free rides to all passengers on Dec. 30 (Rizal Day) from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
-jpv
