I have been using our mass railways since 1999, when I got back from the 2 year stay in the province. During the first few years, daily operations were smooth and ridership was not that many compared to the present day.
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| Commuters waits for the train to arrive |
Moving forward to the present, the condition of our railways turned worst into catastrophic. Commuters experienced massive delays, offloading, and shut down operations. Trains became slow and not functioning air condition. Compatibility issues to the trains purchased by the government from Dalian, China. Long lines are normal during rush hours, but, lines that are as far as 100 meters, I think there are problems that needs to be addressed.
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| Toxic Filipino: Don't bother to follow signages / rules |
The government already in the process of rehabilitating the current railways, especially the MRT-3 line thru Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and PNR. Ongoing construction of MRT-7, a 22km railway from North EDSA, Quezon City up to San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.
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| A Machine teller Kiosk in Guadalupe Station (Southbound) |
As a commuter, the government should look on; (1) Increasing the number of train cars. For example, MRT-3 line only deploys little as 10 trains during peak hours. Few trains creates long passenger lines, waiting time, and delays. (2) Fixing the air condition of the trains. Philippines is a tropic country, and hot weather is part of every Filipino lives. It will add suffering if passengers are experiencing sweating inside the trains. Take note of other passengers who tries to closing train door and squeezing themselves inside the train. (3) Full implementation of ticket automation and increase the number of Automated Ticket Machine. When they shifted to RF cards in 2015, I thought human tellers will be removed. However, it turns out that they still use the human tellers instead of the machines, and few machine ticket kiosk in its stations, roughly one machine per station / per bound and some station doesn't. (4) Synchronisation of Train Information System. They installed the Commuter Information System in its trains but the information is delayed or not updated. It seems that they installed it not for commuter information but for added revenue for digital advertisements.
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| Delayed Commuter Information System |
I know that they are trying their best to make mass transit trains safe and seamless but commuters suffer long enough. Another thing, Filipinos should teach themselves to follow signages especially in public transports such as trains, because they are helpful in making a commute smooth. Some of them don't bother other commuters as long as they can get inside.
Train management should somehow follow the footsteps of Japan's JR (Japan Railway) that I, myself, experience the efficiency of their trains. I am optimistic in the rehabilitation of MRT-3 because the local agency is on its way to fix issues that looms for so long.
