Ref.: Anna Ferrer / Mariecar Jara-Puyod
6473452 / 6473491 local 29846
Riding the mass rail has become easier as the Light Rail Transit Authority has stocked in their Purple Line ticket vending machines stored value tickets.
"This means ," LRTA administrator Pacifico M. Fajardo said, "that our riders will now spend less time at our terminals to buy their tickets and be in their destinations earlier than the usual."
The tickets, yellow in color and known as SVTs, are valued at P100 each, which the passenger can use up to the last P1.
As this developed, Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza announced that the LRTA board of directors and the DOTC fare policy committee had approved the adjustment of train fares for the Purple Line.
Mendoza said: "DOTC and LRTA had adjusted the fare rates, patterned after the distance-related fare scheme implemented by the Yellow Line (LRT 1) last Dec. 15."
Fajardo explained: "Based on the LRT 2 fare rationalization matrix, LRT 2 passengers who will travel between 4.5 km and 13.8 km of the entire stretch, shall pay between P12 and P15, depending on where of the 11 stations they board and alight."
"These are still reasonably-priced," he added, citing that the LRTA fare structure is cheap, compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors.
For the same distance, it was learned that Taiwan RTC charges P75.04; Taipei Hsin Tien, P58.46; Japan TRTA, P57.18; Singapore MRT, P35; Kuala Lumpur LRT, P29; and Singapore Bukit Panjang, P25.82.
The 11 stations of the Purple Line or LRT 2 are Santolan, Katipunan, Anonas, Araneta Center-Cubao, Betty Go-Belmonte, Gilmore, J. Ruiz, V. Mapa, Pureza, Legarda, and Recto. While the station Betty Go-Belmonte to Legarda will start servicing the public this April, Recto, the westernmost station, shall be operational late this year.
Purple Line operations and maintenance department officer-in-charge Engr. Ed San Juan said that commuters who will be buying stored value tickets get the benefit of enjoying the last ride bonus.
"Even if the value left at the SVT is P1, the passenger could still ride our train and arrive at his destination," San Juan said.
Meanwhile, loose change are no longer available at the passenger assistance offices of the Purple Line as the management encourages all passengers to use the SVTs, based on a decision reached by the LRTA board of directors chaired by the date of purchase, and those from which the SVTs could be obtained.
"We now have separate TVMs for the SJTs and SVTs. Hence, the public can avoid the long lines, especially if they go for the SVTs," he said.
"It is the goal of the Arroyo administration, through the Strong Republic Transport System, to provide swift, safe and comfortable means of transportation to the public as well as the fast delivery of goods and services through the interconnection and interfacing of at least seven mass rails within and outside of the metropolis," Mendoza said.
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