MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation and Manila Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 (MRT-3) announced that they will be giving free rides within the line to visually impaired commuters in celebration of White Cane Safety Day.
The DOTr-MRT-3 thorugh Transport Assistant Secretary for Railways and MRT-3 officer-in-charge Jorjette Aquino announced the "libreng sakay" last Monday.
"The MRT-3 is one with the whole nation in celebrating the World Cane Safety day," said Aquino on Monday night in a social media post in Filipino.
"We will continue to give priority the welfare and riights of our visually impaired passengers especially when it comes to adequate, fast, comfortable and reliable transportation."
MAGANDANG BALITA!
— DOTr MRT-3 (@dotrmrt3) July 31, 2023
Maghahandog ng LIBRENG SAKAY ang MRT-3 para sa visually impaired passengers mula August 1 hanggang 6 bilang pagdiriwang ng White Cane Safety Day.
BASAHIN: https://t.co/zSqj1puat8#DOTrPH ???????? #BagongPilipinas #RailwaysAtYourService #FullSpeedAhead pic.twitter.com/EEykcJGBHe
The free rides could by availed by the people starting Tuesday (August 1) until Sunday (August 6).
Visually impaired passengers could benefit from the free rides by presenting a valid persons with disability (PWD) identification card to a security personnel.
PWDs and senior citizens usually find difficulty in riding public transportation mass railways because of their condition, with MRT-3 trains stations usually requiring them to walk two to three floors of stairs whenever escalators and elevators are not available.
The LRT-1 and LRT-2 still has not announced any free rides for passengers experiencing blindness on the same dates.
However, the LRT-2 had earlier announced free rides for delegates of the 2023 Palarong Pambansa from July 31 to August 5.
PWDs and seniors currently could avail of discounted rides using single journey and stored valued tickets. However, the latter one still needs to be applied.