The managements of Metro Rail and Light Rail Transit
Systems have once again harped on a long-planned fare hike. It was no less the
Department of Transportation (DOTC) Secretary who trumpeted the impending hike
of Five Pesos (P5.00) within the year and another Five Pesos (P5.00) in 2014.
Expectedly, groups championing the plight of the
approximately 350,000 daily commuters went as fast on counter-offense. Bayan Muna
Partylist Representative Neri Colmenares, among others, has vowed to continue
to oppose the imminent hike like it has done in the past, even threatening to
block DOTC’s budget by raising the fare hike as an issue in the budget
deliberations.
I, being one among the 350,000 who fairly regularly
take the MRT –goodness EDSA traffic will make an already despicable MRT commute
a luxurious option (but no way good enough, we just have far worse traffic than
most other cities), say MRT and LRT managements are shameless and should be
shamed if they pushed ahead with the mulled fare hike.
For sure, fare hike is inevitable, regardless of what
many groups say that MRT and LRT, being a mass transport system, rightly
deserved public subsidies. With subsidies, at the current level, at P55 per
passenger, or about 400% of today’s full-stretch fare of P14, sooner than
later, a fare hike is ineluctable. But not so fast, MRT and LRT managements,
which have done nothing that looked like managing (quite bluntly) if they ever
understood the word, need some bashing to take them to their senses.
Enterprises are allowed to make money when they
deliver value to their customer base or clientele. It is the customers
themselves who will support a fare hike in the mass transport systems’ case if
the requisite value is first delivered.
Ever wondered why Google and Facebook are riding on such
high-value stocks today? You got it, we have all heard about it: They delivered
service to the delight of the customers for free, at no cost, for a time before
they decided they had done enough and people were now willing to allow them to
monetize on their built goodwill.
The same cannot be said of both companies, which far
from providing free service, have never been efficient, and have never been the
subject of delight of the commuting public. There is just no sense of
consciousness or literacy on customer service as this mantra is known in the
private sector service industry, where companies outdo one another for a share
in the market. Very typical of a government-run agency.
Here’s how these systems have bungled every advantage
that I could think of for an urban train system. The system should provide time
savings, and its value is enormous, as many workers now are paid by the minute,
thanks to technology that brought in the now ubiquitous biometrics.
In contrast, these systems, especially the MRT, of
which I am more familiar, do not understand the implications. They operate the
trains like others operate provincial buses: At the start station, say, North
Avenue, they would park the train leaving its doors open until it fills up,
defeating its travel time predictability feature.
As time is very important to everyone, especially
married individuals with children to look after and a house to keep in order,
you budget your time literally to the minute, so much that you would leave the
house with just about enough time to get you to work on time or in time for
your shift, as it is popularly referred to now. This clueless, out-of-touch
management throws you out of your time handle most of the time.
That is just one, and if you’re an MRT/LRT commuter
you would know that there are countless more of less-than-desirable aspects of
their service: cramped stations (sometimes it makes me think that those recent
death incidents weren’t suicides, but accidental); untrained personnel;
outrageously poor maintenance (oftentimes you’d see the overhead hatch [right
at the door] falling off); very scarce number of trains; busted elevators (even
Ayala Station has not been spared. In fact, as of this writing the inside single-width
elevator that would take passengers up
to the second level where two wider elevators await to them further up finally to
the exits have been in disrepair for weeks now punishing the commuting public
especially the elderly, pregnant, and children; and the list goes on.
Until they would have fixed these, they have no right
(it’s an abomination) to demand for fare hike regardless of reasons. Satisfy
first before you demand. Read Google and Facebook’s history and learn.
