LRT authority earns P1.07B in first 6 months

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) reported revenues of P1.07 billion in the first six months of the year, a slight increase from P949.47 million it recorded in the same period last year. During the first half of the year, commuters who took the LRT lines 1 and 2 reached 76.49 million. The figure was the same recorded by the LRTA from January to June of last year but more passengers were recorded from January to March this year compared to the 36.4 million recorded in the second quarter. "Strict monitoring of purchases and maintenance costs have significantly brought down LRTA's expenses, while improved efficiency of its operations raised passenger volume, resulting in higher passenger revenues," LRTA administrator Mel Robles said. The trains, however, have stalled four times in the past month. In the latest incident, lighting struck a wire feeding electricity to the LRT-2 line last July 12, which stopped operations at the height of the morning rush hour. Of the reported revenues, P514.57 million was produced in the second quarter or from April to June this year. During the same period, the LRTA carried 36.4 million riders, slightly lower than the 40.08 million passengers recorded from January to March this year. The consolidated ridership and revenue report of the LRTA also showed that April figures declined as against the same period last year. Only 10.37 million took the LRT compared to the 10.62 million passengers recorded in April last year. Consequently, revenues also went down to P146.52 million from P151.08 million in the same period. The decline was brought about by the holidays, particularly Holy Week in April. In May, the agency recorded P179.80 million in revenues compared to P155.51 million year-on-year. The number of passengers that took Lines 1 and 2 of the LRTA also increased to 12.74 million from 10.95 million in May last year. Last month, the LRTA transported a total of 13.29 million passengers and produced P188.25 million in revenues. In the same period last year, lines 1 and 2 recorded P167.97 million revenues and 11.87 million passengers. The Purple Line or Line 2 is a 13.8-kilometer (km) railway stretch with 11 stations. These are Santolan; Katipunan, the first and only underground air-conditioned station; Anonas; Araneta Center-ubao; Betty Go-Belmonte; J. Ruiz; Gilmore; V. Mapa; Pureza; Legarda; and Recto. The Yellow Line or Line 1, meanwhile, runs from Baclaran to Monumento. The LRTA has been holding off the implementation of a fare adjustment for more than a year now. Still, the agency posted P68 million in profits last year, a turnaround from 23 straight years of losses. Passengers using single journey (SJ) tickets are charged P12 for the first four stations and P15 for the rest of the route. Stored value (SV) ticket holders are charged P12 for the first four stations, P13 for five to eight stations, P14 for nine to twelve stations and P15.00 for thirteen to fifteen stations. In 2005, Line1 surpassed its annual target of 74,282,309 passengers and had 76,809,417 passengers. LRTA Line-2's target ridership of 29,391,704 was exceeded at 30,214,022. The agency also paid P23 million in taxes last year. -GMANews.TV