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Over 45.6M commuters rode MRT3 in 2021 amid COVID-19 pandemic —DOTr


The Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT3) served a total of 45,675,884 commuters or an average of 136,935 daily commuters in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Monday.

In a statement, the DOTr said 4.1 million commuters were recorded for both January and February, and 3.9 million in March.

When the National Capital Region (NCR) was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in April, the monthly ridership dropped to 2.2 million. In May, the number increased to 3.5 million.

The monthly ridership further increased to 3.7 million in June and 4.2 million in July, as the NCR was eased to the less strict general community quarantine classification.

In August, the number dropped to 2.9 million as the NCR was placed under the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) classification due to the surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

For the remaining months of 2021, the DOTr said there was a steady increase in ridership as the NCR gradually eased to a more relaxed community quarantine and alert level status.

MRT3 recorded 3.3 million passengers in September, 3.9 million in October, 4.4 million in November, and the highest one for the year at 5.5 million in December.

The train capacity in MRT3 has been increased from 30% (372 passengers in a train set) to 70% (827 passengers in a train set) starting November 4.

For MRT3 OIC-General Manager Asec. Eymard Eje, the increasing ridership showed the improved reliability of MRT3 especially in the time of the pandemic.

“The continued patronage of our riding public is a testament to how MRT-3 has really transformed from a defective to a reliable, fast, and efficient public transportation that it is now,” Eje said in a statement.

MRT3 Director for Operations Michael Capati attributed the improvement to the completion of the train system’s rehabilitation.

According to the MRT3, the travel time between the North Avenue Station and the Taft Avenue Station was reduced from 1 hour and 15 minutes in pre-pandemic record to 50 minutes now.

“All the while na-maintain natin yung strict compliance sa COVID-19 health and safety protocols para sa kaligtasan ng mga pasahero," Capati said.

(All the while we have maintained the strict compliance to COVID-19 health and safety protocols for the safety of passengers.) —KBK, GMA News

Tags: mrt3, COVID-19, news, DOTr
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