DOTr to review MRT-3’s overstaying policy

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) plans to review the overstaying policy of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3) after a commuter posted a complaint on social media, an official said yesterday.

The MRT-3 allows a passenger to stay within the paid area of a station for a maximum of two hours, after which the commuter will be charged P28.

According to the agency, prescribing a maximum stay period is a standard railway operating procedure that is implemented for security reasons and to avoid the turnback of passengers.

The DOTr said a station supervisor can override a turnstile so passengers affected by the lack of trains or a service interruption “may exit without paying the overstay charge. This is part of the MRT-3’s standard operating procedure.”

The two-hour overstaying policy was implemented only this year, according to the DOTr, as previous years saw shorter periods.

From 90 minutes in 2010, it was extended to 99 minutes in 2012, then to 120 minutes in 2018, data from the agency showed.

MRT-3 passenger Miriam Cabiles posted on social media on Aug. 22 that she was unfairly asked to pay an “overstay charge” at the Cubao station when she was 15th in line to board “crazy overcrowded” trains.

“I don’t plan on compensating for your incompetency. It’s probably enough that I, just like the millions of other Filipinos, am paying my taxes to a government that couldn’t deliver its services well,” she added, referring to the DOTr and MRT-3.

Based on MRT-3’s investigation of the incident, the DOTr said Cabiles entered Cubao station’s paid area at exactly 7:17 a.m.

Cabiles said she was able to board a train “an hour and a half after.”

Between the passenger’s entry in the paid area at 7:17 a.m. and her reported boarding of a train which was around 8:45 a.m., the DOTr said 10 regular trains and two skip trains stopped at the station.

Cabiles tapped her beep card at the exit gate of Buendia station at exactly 9:28 a.m., the agency said.

“Assuming that Ms. Cabiles arrived in Buendia station at 9:15 a.m. as stated in her post, it is again still being investigated why it took her 13 minutes to exit Buendia station after alighting from the train. Ms. Cabiles eventually exited Buendia station at 9:33 a.m. after paying the overstay charge,” it added.

The DOTr said Cabiles was the only passenger who boarded at the Cubao station and alighted at the Buendia station who was asked to pay the overstay charge.

“It is still being investigated why the other passengers that entered Cubao station at the same time as Ms. Cabiles and exited at Buendia station at the same time as (her) were not identified by MRT-3’s AFCS (or Automated Fare Collection System) for having overstayed. It appears unlikely that Ms. Cabiles was the only passenger that boarded in Cubao station and alighted in Buendia station at that time,” the agency said.

For Aug. 22, MRT-3’s AFCS recorded a total of 12 passengers, at different stations, who overstayed and were charged for overstaying. The rail line carried 341,452 passengers on that day.