Miguel Camus of the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that the government is set to increase the fare for the two LRT lines and the MRT by a total of P10, with the initial P5 possibly charged to passengers as early as August this year.
The report explained that according to Transportation and Communication Secretary Joseph Abaya, the planned "P10 average increase for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 will be done in two equal parts through 2014." This means that passengers will have to pay P5 more for train tickets sometime within the year and another P5 more starting 2014.
The fare hike will raise the MRT's maximum fare from P15 per passenger to P25 once it has been fully implemented. The LRT 1 and 2's maximum fares, meanwhile, will go up to P30 and P25, respectively. The report noted that the train fares were last adjusted "in the early 2000s."
For more on this story, log on to Inquirer.net.
