Halting LRT-1 fare hike will violate contract with operator, Palace says

THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE on Monday said suspending the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) fare hike on April 2 would violate the government’s contract with private operator Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) amid calls to stop the hike for commuters.

“This administration also wants this not to proceed for now. However, this is stipulated in the contract. If I am not mistaken, it was mentioned that the fare hike should have been implemented a long time ago, but it was held off for the benefit of our consumers,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Clarissa A. Castro told a Palace briefing in mixed English and Filipino.

“However, we also need to consider the situation because if this is part of the contract and the government fails to fulfill it, it could lead to bigger problems for our commuters.”

An LRT-1 single journey ticket is set to go up by P10 to P55 for an end-to-end trip from Dr. Santos station to Fernando Poe, Jr. (formerly Roosevelt) station. The minimum fare will also increase to P20 from P15 by April 2.

For users of stored value cards, the maximum fare would go up to P52 from the current P43 for end-to-end trips.

Transport and civic groups on Monday filed an appeal before the Office of the President to reverse the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) order that granted the fare hike, saying the deal was “grossly disadvantageous to the public.”

In a joint statement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) President Renato M. Reyes, Jr., Kilusang Mayo Uno secretary general Jerome M. Adonis and Mody T. Floranda, PISTON national president said there was no “financial necessity” for the fare hike.

The new fare matrix, which the DoTr greenlit on Feb. 14, will cover the trip from FPJ Station (formerly Roosevelt) in Quezon City to Baclaran Station in Pasay City, including the last station of the Cavite extension Phase 1.

This is also lower than LRMC’s proposal to raise the end-to-end-trip fare to P60 for single-journey tickets and P58 for stored value cards.

“The Department of Transportation (DoTr) must also disclose how it arrived at the approved figures for the new LRT fares as such have not been provided to the public,” the groups said.

Since it took over LRT-1 operations from the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) in 2015, the private operator has filed several petitions for fare adjustments which have all been deferred.

Under its concession agreement, the private operator may seek a fare adjustment once every two years by 10.25% until 2046.

The transport and civic groups said the government owes the private operator more than P3 billion in deficit fees, which Mr. Reyes says shows the “disastrous effect of the privatization of train operations.”

The groups also sought for the government to end the LRTA-LRMC concession agreement, which could pose long-term risks to public debt and “endless fare hikes” until the deal ends in 2046.

“A review of privatization frameworks in transportation is necessary to prevent similar exploitative and oppressive arrangements in the future,” they said.

LRMC is the joint venture of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte Ltd. Metro Pacific Light Rail is a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT Inc. and Philex Mining Corp.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

“The fare hike is an added burden to commuters all in the name of guaranteeing private profits,” Bayan’s Mr. Reyes said in a separate X post. — John Victor D. Ordoñez