SENATE OFFICE, Manila, January 14, 2011-Senator Manny Villar urged the Department of Transportation and Communications to study a scheme that would give priority discounts to senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWD) and government employees riding the LRT and MRT trains aside from the student discount which was proposed by his fellow Senator Ralph Recto.

Villar said that the New Year welcomed us with price increases in toll fees, petroleum products and basic commodities and therefore, with the looming fare hike in the LRT and MRT, there is a need to ease the burden of low income families for discounted fare which is similar to the jeepneys and buses that the government our now implemented.

The Senator said that it is important to show that the government care for the elderly and PWDs. The DOTC should prioritized them in giving discounted train fare and other benefits and privileges as possible to make things easier for them to move on.

“Government employees who use the MRT and LRT trains as their daily means of transportation will have to pay more for the fare and will reduce further their already measly take home pay,” Villar said, adding that effective governance is not only about making popular decisions.

“There are unpopular decisions that would have to be made in order to help us move forward,” he said, pointing out that lesser state subsidy on the operations of MRT and LRT trains would mean bigger spending for priority areas such as health and education.

Earlier, the DOTC said new rates for the Metro Manila train lines will take effect by March. The new rates will be raised to P28 from P15 in the entire MRT line from Taft to North Avenue, while the new fare on the LRT line 1 will cost the maximum of P30 for the entire 20-kilometer line from Baclaran to Roosevelt and P25 for the LRT line 2’s 14 kilometers from Recto to Santolan. (Jason de Asis)