The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has extended free rides for the public at the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) until May 30, 2022 from 4:40AM to 10:10PM, the state agency announced Wednesday, April 27.
The DOTr's free ride program, meant to assist commuters hard hit by fuel and commodity price increases, started March 28 and was supposed to end April 30, 2022.
Already, 7,227,434 passengers have benefitted from the program since its launch.
DOTr Secretary Art Tugade stated he wants more people to avail of the free rides on the newly-rehabilitated MRT-3 line.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded MRT-3 Rehabilitation project started in 2018 and was just completed this March.
It was undertaken by the line's original contractor and maintenance provider, Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
MRT-3 first started operations in 1999 on a 16.9 km double track line served by 13 stations from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.
The contractors for the railway's full rehabilitation and upgrade replaced worn out tracks, upgraded the signaling, the communications and CCTV systems and overhauled the Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs).
They also repaired all station escalators and elevators and upgraded the line’s power supply, overhead catenary system, stations and depot facilities and equipment.
The rehabilitation more than doubled the MRT3's operating speed from 25kph to 60kph with 22 fully functioning LRVs.
In addition, it increased train frequency to a 4-minute interval between trains, instead of 9 minutes.
Travel time from North Avenue to Taft Avenue was shortened to 45 minutes from the previous 1 hour and 15 minutes.
A total of 23 trains are now running versus less than 10 trains prior when the system was only permitted to carry 70 percent passenger capacity.
Ultimately, the rehabitation increased MRT 3's ridership capacity from 200,000 passengers per day to 600,000 passengers daily.