The trains that never moved: Metro Manila’s aging train system

LRT 1. Trains arriving at Monumento Station

It was 9:15 AM at the North Avenue Station of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT Line 3) and I was bound to meet a friend at 11:00 AM at a mall in Ortigas Center. I thought that by 9:00 AM, the line of passengers to get to the train would be shorter but to my dismay, it seemed endless. I waited in line but after an hour, I haven't even reached the bottom of the stairs that will lead me up to the main entry gates. I dropped it and went for a bus instead but 10 minutes in the bus I realised it was also not a good idea. So I opened a ride-hailing App and booked a motorbike that would pick me up on my pinned location and take me to my Ortigas. I made it 5 minutes early to my appointment time. The distance between North Avenue Station and the mall in Ortigas Center is only 9 kms. A marathon runner could definitely reach my destination ahead of me if I stayed in that line. Nowadays, every hour that the MRT operates is considered rush hour. There is no respite of people lining up. They even have a "Stop/Entry" method. This means lines do not move at all until all passengers in the platform are cleared.

Inside LRT 1 train arriving at Roosevelt Station

Doroteo Jose Station LRT 1

When I first started in the university, some 20 years ago, I would travel for an hour in a jeepney from my hometown of Obando, Bulacan, to get to Caloocan City where I would take the elevated Light Rail Transit (LRT Line 1). During that time, Monumento Station was the starting point of passengers coming from the northern part of Metro Manila and some provincial towns and other cities nearby. After 30 minutes, I would alight at Central Terminal Station in Manila close to the city hall, then I would take another jeepney ride for 10 minutes to get to my school at the center of what is called the University Belt, an area close to the Malacanang Palace. The distance that I travelled from home to my university is about 23 kms and it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes for the half of my daily commute.

Taking the LRT in the late 90s was something I would consider an easy ride back then. It got crowded during the peak hours but you would still get to your destination on time. It got shaky and stuffy sometimes inside the train cars but it was tolerable at that time. There were many commuters who preferred riding a train with moderate air-conditioning than facing the thick smoke and dust in a sweaty jeepney ride along Avenida.

In the early 2000s came the development of two additional lines. During its opening, the MRT Line 3 reduced the traffic in one of the major roads in Metro Manila, EDSA, where the MRT spans from Quezon City (North Ave. Station) all the way to Pasay City (Taft Ave. Station). This line covers the eastern corridor of Metro Manila going in to the central area. It was a great addition to the means of transportation back then. When the LRT Line 2 opened, it made the commute between Manila to Marikina City quicker. This line connects the metro from Central West (Doroteo Jose Station) to East (Santolan Station).

Metro Manila's LRT and MRT train map

LRT 2 trains arriving at at Legarda Station

But as time goes on, the ease of using the train system has changed dramatically. The increase of passenger ridership catches up way ahead with the slow development and lack of improvement of the train system and facilities causing serial delays, train derailment and people walking on the tracks to save themselves from the fast-aging transportation system. This became the tipping point of the MRT era in Metro Manila. This is very evident especially on Line 3 where the bulk increase of the working class, students and other commuters do not meet the unchanged frequency of train services even during peak hours, or should I say nothing was considered off-peak hours anymore because this happens any time of the day on Line 3.

The line of people going up to North Avenue Station of the MRT 3

For those working on a regular 8:00AM to 5:00PM shift, anyone coming from the MRT stations from North Avenue Station to Cubao going to Makati and Mandaluyong business district areas must battle an approximately 1 to 2 hours of lining up just to get to the entry gates. The stairs, escalators and elevators are filled with a long line of passengers snaking around the entire station all the way down the main road as far as 300 meters. The train services and frequency never change ever since it has opened. There are only 10 trains and each train arrives only every 7 minutes (in real time it reaches up to 15 minutes of waiting time for each train to come). The whole trains serve 550,000 passengers daily. Can you imagine when one train breaks down or when somebody jumps on the railway (which happened several times before)? This causes further delay and adds frustration when the train authority has to shut down operations. It is a decaying transportation system much like the head-breaking traffic jam on the road where it will take you hours on the road for travelling a distance of 10-15 kms.

Inside a crowded LRT 1 train

Inside a crowded MRT 3 train

As someone who patronizes public transportation, I do not see any development being done to alleviate what has been happening. I see that people who work at these train stations are trying their best to manage the people traffic. The city has changed and we do not see anything being done to solve both the train system and the road traffic conditions. The struggle of every Filipinos taking these trains every day is a profound example on why proper maintenance and management should always be a priority, and that we should never be complacent. We should always aim on how to better live and not remain stagnant on what the system can do for us because the system, as they say, is broken.

------