Commuters struggle to find ride as MRT stops operations this weekend

Commuters have struggled to find a ride along Edsa as the MRT 3 suspended its operations this weekend due to rail repairs.

According to Mai Bermudez’s “24 Oras” report Saturday, today marks the first day of the MRT 3’s rail replacement activities, which will continue until tomorrow.

The suspension made traveling difficult for many Metro Manila employees, among them Mary Grace Martus, a sales consultant.

Mary Grace had been waiting for a ride since 8:30 a.m. She was supposed to take the bus that was part of the MRT augmentation, but its stop was far from her workplace.

“So kung magpi-P2P kami, since ’yung bus ano lang nila is Ayala tsaka Taft. Mahirap po, mahirap para sa amin,” said Mary Grace, who chose to wait for a colleague’s shuttle service.

Not everyone, however, had access to private transportation.

“Taxi na naman,” said Fritz Barana. “Wala na po kaming ano … minimum wage earner lang po ako. Kung lagi pong taxi papunta at pabalik, lugi po,” he said.

In the end, he still took a taxi cab together with two other passengers.

According to the Metro Rail Transit administration, once the rail repairs are done, train speed can go up to 60 kph, while intervals will go down to 3.5 minutes.

The next MRT suspensions will happen on Aug. 8-9; Aug. 21 and 23, and Sept. 12-13. – RC, GMA News