LRT ridership rises to 81 million in H1

More than 81 million people rode Lines 1 and 2 of the Light Rail Transit during the first half of the year, the Light Rail Transit Authority said. In a statement, the LRTA said ridership in the first semester of the year rose 6.18 percent to 81.54 million from the 76.81 million registered in the same period last year. The agency said improving ridership resulted in P1.16 billion in revenue collection in the first half of the year. This is 4.75 percent higher than its target of P1.10 billion and 7.35 percent more as against the profits posted in the same period a year ago. LRTA administrator Mel Robles said the ridership for the period is the highest in five years. Robles said the highest single day ridership count for Line 1, which runs from Monumento to Baclaran, was on January 9, 2007 with 432,036 passengers and on June 22 for Line 2, with 190,053 passengers. Line 2 runs from Recto to Santolan. “We will continue to focus on improving our services, as well as our profitability despite an increasingly higher operating cost environment," Robles said. - GMANews.TV