Grace Poe rides MRT3, sees need for train upgrade

Senator Grace Poe lining up in the ticket line of the MRT3 North Avenue station in Quezon City. Photo courtesy of Myrnalyn Lavapie/Senator Grace Poe’s Office

MANILA — After lining up for 40 minutes in the ticket line, Senator Grace Poe rides the train in North Avenue station of the Metro Rail Transit 3 in Quezon City, to experience for herself what it feels to ride on a Friday’s morning rush hour.

Poe will chair a senate hearing to investigate the derailed trip of MRT3 that injured 36 people.

“I want to be able to speak from first-hand experience what a passenger experiences riding the MRT,” Poe told Rappler in a text message, when asked about her unannounced MRT3 ride.

Despite experiencing some glitches along the way, Poe said she had a ‘pleasant’ experience riding on the coach exclusively for women.

Meanwhile, Poe’s son, Brian Poe said in a text message sent to Rappler, that her mother’s ride was unplanned.

“She just woke up and decided, ‘Today I’m going to take the MRT to see for myself what it’s like during rush hour,’” he said.

Though some lawmakers are planning to draft a law that will upgrade the train system in the country, most of them, are not regular commuters.

Need for upgrade

Travelling from end to end of the train, Poe arrived at Taft Station in Pasay City almost two hours later, including the time she waited lining up for tickets.

The senator, who travelled without media trail, nor an army of security and staff members, saw the inconveniences of traveling through train.

Poe’s train ticket got stuck in the ticketing machine. This was after several minutes of standing to line up at the ticket booth.

Photo courtesy of Myrnalyn Lavapie/Senator Grace Poe’s Office

Poe told Rappler that although the line was moving at the North Avenue station, a non-functional escalator caused a bottleneck of passengers. Her train ticket also got stuck in the ticketing machine, she said.

She also noticed that the elevators of the train were not working saying that it will be difficult for persons with disabilities to travel by train.

Despite the inconveniences, Poe said the train is still “not a hopeless situation” adding that, “the government just has to step up its efforts in the proper maintenance of the trains and the station.”