The House Committee on Metro Manila Development recently submitted a proposal to add extra hours to the daily schedule of the MRT and LRT. They are asking for an extension of 2 hours, so the MRT would operate until 12:30am and the LRT until 12mn.
Representative Winston Castelo, chair of the committee, explains their proposal: “We should exert the powers of the Congress and ask them to operate past 10 (p.m.) because the bulk of the commuters are also still away from their homes.”
In response, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has promised to look over the proposal. DOTr communications director, Goddes Hope Libiran, announced: “The DOTr MRT-3 welcomes the suggestion to extend for two more hours the operating system of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 from its original schedule of 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. We will study the proposal given the changes in the current MRT-3 ridership profile, as compared to when the extended hours was tested in the past.”
(LOOK: What can we draw from this photo of commuting passengers?)
However, they did disclaim that this proposal may be difficult as maintenance is conducted during non-operation hours. Libiran continues: “We wish to stress that regular and efficient preventive maintenance works help ensure smooth train operations, as well as prevention of unloading incidents and service interruptions.”
Do you think an extension of operating hours would be worth the possible risks?
