TWO recent decisions of transportation officials have caused significant hardship for already weary commuters. How are such decisions made? Why aren't our transportation decision-makers more sensitive to the impacts of their rulings on ordinary commuters?
Last April 13, 2022, one of the busiest travel days of the year, the MRT 3 was shut down for maintenance, leaving only the buses on the EDSA Carousel to handle the deluge of passengers wanting to travel on the last day before a long weekend. Commuters will not easily forget that night. Prior to 2018, the suspension of MRT 3 services during Holy Week was only from Thursday to Sunday. With the recent completion of the MRT 3's rehabilitation and rail replacement, its annual maintenance could have been confined to a four-day period as in past years. With the MRT 3 shutdown, the EDSA Carousel was expected to handle the railway's load on a normal working day, about 300,000 riders.
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