Monday, January 12, 2009 LRT sets new ridership record
NOT only does last Friday’s feast of the famed Black Nazarene in Manila’s Quiapo District reached another milestone in term of the number of devotees, but even the country’s first mass transit system has also recorded the highest passenger volume in its 25 years of operation.
Melquiades Robles, administrator of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), said they counted 582,989 passengers, who took the LRT trains in their Baclaran-Monumento System (Line 1) on January 9, beating the old record of 542,605 passengers set on December 16, 1996.
“Aside from this, we have also set a new combined ridership record of 785,674 passengers for both its Line 1 and Recto-Santolan System (Line 2), surpassing the 2007 record of 542,605,” Robles said.
The LRTA allowed the entry of barefoot passengers in consideration of the customary celebration of the Black Nazarene Day.
To cope with the huge passenger volume, the LRTA’s Operation Department had to deploy some of its train crew supervisors to drive the trains and augment its train operators for the continuous fielding of its 31 trains at two minutes interval.
Robles said the new record was achieved because of the LRTA’s Capacity Expansion Project (Capex-Phase II), which was completed in 2007, as well as the speedy rehabilitation of all down trains, some of which were inoperative for 15 years already.
“Because of Capex II and our rehabilitation efforts, we now have more trains to service passengers and bigger station with more tellers’ booths to accommodate them,” he explained.
LRTA’s Line 1 System has a stable of 139 coaches that may be configured into three-car or four-car train combinations depending on passenger demand, with a carrying capacity of 1,309,680 passengers per day.
On the other hand, its Line 2 system has 16 trains available, which can carry a maximum of 730,240 passengers per day. (AH/Sunnex)
