Ticket system delays may cause LRT to lose P77M

LRT Train (Invest Philippines)

MANILA — Bayan said that delays in the implementation of the privatized Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) may cause the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) to lose around P77 million in revenues.

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. said that to make pilferage possible, the management had to use ticket coupons and uncoded tickets.

“During the past few months, concerned LRT employees have raised questions about the use of uncoded tickets and coupons in the absence of new tickets. The LRTA no longer bought new tickets nor upgraded their ticket encoding machines in anticipation of the new privatized ticketing system that is the AFCS,” Reyes added.

He was quoting a source form the LRT Authority board meeting held July 16.

Reyes added that the ticketing system was supposed to be operational by September 2015.

He said that it was not clarified though whether the target date of its full operation will be achieved.

Comparing January to March 2014 and 2015 records, Reyes said that the train’s total ridership has gone down from 44 million to 37.8 million.

“Meanwhile, load factor increased from 91 percent to 101 percent because of fewer trains. The LRT-1 trains are already operating beyond their expected capacity,” he added.