COA flags MRT 3

The Commission on Audit has flagged the Metro Rail Transit 3 for a decrease in the number of its passengers and income by 26 percent since the Department of Transportation took over the transit’s operation and management in the past four years.    

In a 2018 audit report, the commission said MRT 3’s passenger ridership and ticket sales went down at their worst levels last year, wherein 13 out of the 24 train set were only operational on a daily basis.

Based on COA’s four-year analysis of the train’s operations, a 26-percent decline in annual passenger ridership from 140,152,161 in 2017 to 104,275,362 in 2018 was observed.

On the other hand, income collections from ticket sales also plunged by 26 percent from P2.77 billion in 2017 to P2 billion in the same period, COA said.

“These regressions are largely attributed to the decreased number of train sets plying on the rail tracks caused by the termination on Nov. 3, 2017 of the maintenance service contract of Busan Joint Venture and implemented by 183 Busan Universal Rail Inc.,” the report read.

“It bears emphasis that the maintenance services of the MRT 3 system were taken over by the DoTr-MRT3 maintenance transition team thereafter.”