More passengers will be allowed to board Philippine National Railways (PNR), Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Manila Light Rail Transit (LRT) trains starting Thursday, November 4.
The leadership of the Department of Transportation is confident that increasing the seating capacity of their passengers on trains to 70 percent will not be the reason for the increase in COVID-19 cases in the country.
Assistant Secretary Eymard Eje, OIC-General Manager of MRT-3, said based on the studies, there is little chance that passengers on the trains will be infected even if its capacity is increased.
“Sa amin sa rail sector ay nakakalap ng mga katibayan na ligtas pa rin po ang ating mga pasahero sa rails sa kabila ng MRT, LRT at PNR, mas mataas na ang papayagang mga pasahero simula Nob. 4 kahit taasan natin ang capacity ng ating mga pasahero. Base sa aming nakalap, meron lamang 0.2 percent na hawaan sa Germany na nakaugnay sa public transport at meron lamang 1.2% na COVID-19 cluster na nakalink sa transport with regards to land, air and sea transport at meron lang din pong 0.01 % ang tsansa na mahawa tayo ng covid sa loob ng public transport at ito po ay lalo pang napapababa kapag meron tayong minimum health protocols.,” he explained.
As a result, the former only 30 percent an allowable number of passengers on the MRT per its train set or only 374 now will be up to 827 starting tomorrow.
MRT, LRT and PNR to carry more passengers starting Nov.4
For LRT-1, the current 337 passengers for each set of the first generation train will be 745 tomorrow.
LRT-2 train sets will be able to carry up to 1,140 from the previous 488 starting tomorrow.
In PNR, passengers will be raised to 667 per train set.
The DOTr still strictly reminds passengers to follow minimum health protocols on public transportation and still prohibits the use of cellphones or conversations by passengers.
The DOTr leadership, meanwhile, insisted that the department has a study on its decision to raise the capacity of public transportation in the country to 70 percent amid the ongoing pandemic.
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