LRT sets new passenger record

IT’S a record!

This was the reaction of the Light Rail Transit Administration (LRTA) officials on Tuesday after learning a new single-day ridership record was set during Monday’s celebration of the feast of the Black Nazarene.

The LRTA spokesman, lawyer Hernando Cabrera, said Light Rail Transit-Line 1 (LRT1) carried a total of 620,987 passengers on January 9, Monday, breaking the previous record of 597,417 passengers posted on December 2, 2011.

Line 1 plies the Baclaran (Parañaque City)-Muñoz (Quezon City)-Baclaran route.

Cabrera said that the latest figure was higher than the 582,989 total passenger counts during the Black Nazarene celebration on January 9, 2009.

He added that the recent feast day falling on a Monday, a busy work day, contributed to the high number of LRT-1 passengers.

“The factor that helped set the new record was that devotees took the LRT-1 line and those who usually don’t ride the line and those who had cars had to take the route this time because there were no buses to take them to their destinations,” Cabrera told reporters during an interview.

He noted that the passenger turnouts in the 2010 and 2011 feast days were relatively low because both celebrations fell on a weekend.

LRT-1 ferried only 362,912 passengers on January 9, 2010.

Report from Manila Times