More on MRT: Facts

And here are the figures...

Roberto Lastimoso, the Metro Rail’s general manager, said during an interview that the peak-hour period at MRT 3 will be extended to between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and to between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The MRT 3 runs from West Avenue in Quezon City to Baclaran in Pasay City and back.

At present, the peak hour is between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., during which 20 three-car trains leave every three minutes.

Beyond peak hours, Lastimoso said, the system uses 15 three-car trains that roll on every five minutes.

He added that Tespi Corp., the maintenance operator of MRT 3, has granted the request of the government to extend the peak-hour period and for the operator to deploy additional trains at no cost.

Lastimoso explained that under the contract of Tespi, for every additional car used beyond the peak hours, the government will pay $1,000 per car. “If you need 15 cars, its $15,000 per hour,” Lastimoso said.

He added that the peak hour per direction at MRT 3 transports 26,500 passengers. “We need an emergency capacity expansion. The system is only designed to cover about 23,600 passengers per peak hour, but now the demand has ballooned to 26,500 during rush hour.”

Data from the Metro Rail authority showed that from April to June, the number of passengers rose 11.26 percent to 37.17 million, with a monthly average of 12.39 million and a daily average of 4,274,260 passengers.

In the first quarter of 2008, the number of passengers grew by only 2.24 percent to 36.08 million compared to the 35.29 million during the same period in 2007.(ManilaTimes.net)

Glaring isn't it?