Despite the ongoing LRT2 extension construction and argubly the better train line in the Philippines compared to LRT1 and MRT, DOTC Secretary Arthur Tugade is thinking about the possibilty of dismantling the LRT-2 and convert it to bus rapid transit system.
“I’m thinking of converting the LRT-2 into a BRT system wherein we will remove the rails. It’s not new, I copied it similar to Hong Kong and Shanghai. If you put the right buses, if you do the right technology, there can even be more and it’s cheaper,” Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade told reporters. “It’s not yet final. We are seriously studying it,” Tugade said, adding the LRT Line 2 was now 14 years old.
The existing LRT2 is a 13.8-kilometer mass transit line, which runs across five cities in Metro Manila, namely Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, San Juan and Manila. It passes the major thoroughfares of Marcos Highway, Aurora Boulevard, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Legarda Street and Recto Avenue.
The LRT2 cost about P31 billion in soft loans funded mainly by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The previous government had awarded a P2.27-billon contract to construct the extension of the existing LRT 2 to Masinag in Antipolo.
The LRT 2 east extension project involves adding 4.2 kilometers to the railway from the existing Santolan station at Marcos Highway, Pasig City, all the way to the intersection of Marcos and Sumulong highways in Masinag, Antipolo.
This doesn't seat well with about 300,000 people average daily riders of the train line. They set up a Facebook page and a petition to save the LRT2 or MRT2 https://www.facebook.com/hashtagmrt2
sign the petition here to SAVE LRT2
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