Snoworld™

Update 23 July 2012: The color-scheme and official name were changed for all three lines. What was formerly known as Blue Line, which was formerly known as MRT-3 or Metrostar Express, is now known officially as Yellow Line.

What was formerly known as Yellow Line, which was formerly known as LRT-1 or Metrorail, is now known officially as Green Line.

See this post for more information.

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Dear President Noynoy Aquino and Vice-President Jojo Binay, as the new President and Vice-President of the Republic of the Philippines respectively, I, JC John Sese Cuneta, on behalf of the other patrons of the Blue Line railway system (formerly MRT-3) am submitting to you ideas on how to ease the worst-than-sardines-packed rush hour problem plaguing the Blue Line.

Here is the current situation:

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Rush hour. You ride the Blue Line railway system (formerly known as MRT-3). You are at the North bound platform, second station. The platform is jam-packed already. It is 5:00 in the afternoon, the sky is still bright.

The train arrives, as we Filipinos call it, it is sardines-packed. You failed to board the first train. The second train arrives, sardines-packed again. Fail. The third, the fourth, and by this time everyone on the platform are pushing everybody out of the way just to board an already sardines-packed train.

Follow up:

They pushed you and you realized you only have two options - [1] ask for a refund and go cool yourself somewhere near and try again a few hours later; or [2] start pushing people as well. You chose the second option, you waited for four trains you told yourself that it will be such a waste of time and effort not to join the pushing frenzy.

Fifth train, sixth train, and finally success shined on you on the seventh train but not without getting yourself closer to death because of the pushing frenzy. You are now inside a North bound train. A worst-than-sardines-packed North bound train.

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Familiar? Should be for those who rides the Blue Line (f. MRT-3) during rush hour. But the Blue Line administration seems to be blind and deaf of the situation even though they have plenty of eyes - human and technological - at every station. I can’t help but say here that they care only about earning more or getting back their investments faster. Why? There are ideas that they can implement and they still have not done so!

Idea #1: Add a new car to every train

Add new cars! All the Blue Line stations were built with an allowance for one (or two?) new car. Check it yourself, there is enough space at the end of a train when it stops at any Blue Line station. During rush hour that additional car will help in moving people faster and getting people out of the stations.

Of course, this will mean:

• Additional electricity consumption
• Additional maintenance
• Lesser car reserves, which could mean
• The need to buy more new cars (or parts), which could end up
• As a price hike for everyone

But with the number of people commuting via the Blue Line railway system during rush hour, from my perspective it is already justified. Do we have to wait when the number of people goes up to something the stations can not handle anymore?

Yes, this will not solve the sardines-packed issue but it will lessen or shorten the time period when the trains are worst-than-sardines-packed. Our main objective here is to ease out the sardines-packed situation. Spread the passengers, get them off the stations and get them to their dropping-off stations quickly. The less people waiting, the shorter the worst-than-sardines-packed trains rush hour will be.

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