LRT 2 suspends full ops for 9 months

THOUSANDS of commuters may have to wait for nine months — or until July 2020 — before full operations of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT 2) could be restored.

Hernan Cabrera, spokesman for the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), said in a phone interview on Friday that while the company was exerting all efforts to implement partial operations of Recto (Manila)-Cubao (Quezon City) route by early next week, full operations of the way are not possible anytime soon.

The LRTA, according to Cabrera, needs nine months to repair the

which broke out from a transformer between the Anonas and Katipunan stations, which are both in Quezon City, on Thursday morning, crippling the operations and leaving thousands of commuters stranded.

“Some of the materials [for the repair] have to be imported, so it will take some time,” he told The ManilaTimes during the phone interview.

In a separate statement, the Department of Transportation also on Friday said the cost of the system damage had reached P428 million.

When asked how many would still be adversely affected even if partial operations of the Recto-Cubao route were restored, Cabrera said this would have an impact not just on LRT 2 regular passengers, but to motorists and the whole commuting public.

The public should expect an increased volume of jeepney or bus ridership, while private car owners

“The delay in the process will have an impact on the time and motion of the motorists,” Cabrera added.

To give a bigger picture, he noted that LRT 2 had been catering to 200,000 commuters everyday, lower than of 500,000.

As LRT 2 operations have been halted since Thursday, thousands of commuters were forced to take other transportation modes.

In an interview with The ManilaTimes, two regular passengers of LRT 2, who requested anonymity, said from the regular one- to two- hour travel time to the office, it took them four to five hours to arrive in Intramuros, Manila from Santolan, Pasig City on Friday.

As many Filipinos relied on LRT its designed capacity 2, there were not enough jeepneys or even UV Express vans to accommodate the stranded passengers.

A surge in fares was also witnessed on Friday when using ride-hailing apps like Grab and Angkas.

The two passengers claimed that local government units or the LRTA itself failed to provide mass transportation for the affected commuters to at least ease the situation.

LRTA Administrator General Reynaldo Berroya said in a statement that the cause of the incident was yet to be determined.