Train to oblivion

To spare myself the stress of driving through the traffic on EDSA – which has become pretty bad practically every hour of the day, every day of the week – I have of late decided not to drive to Makati for meetings but instead park my car at the Shangri-La Plaza mall on Shaw Blvd. and take the MRT to the Ayala station and from there walk to wherever my meeting is (which is why I maneuver to have meetings held within the Ayala Center, anywhere walkable from the MRT station). This way I save myself from the aggravations of driving through traffic and finding a parking space in congested Makati, not to mention time and fuel. And the P11 one-way fare is a steal, although I don’t think it would be politically correct to advocate a fare increase.

Yes, the MRT can get crowded – although I have not been on the train at rush hour, which I hear is packed tighter than a can of sardines – but it so far has been bearable, and I have realized that gallantry and kindness are not totally lost virtues, for I have been offered seats several times by young men and women (I totally do not feel insulted to be regarded as a senior citizen deserving of some consideration).

Thus the recent spate of mishaps and missteps involving the MRT is of some measure of concern to me, made worse by the ensuing revelations that maintenance and upkeep of the trains and the entire system have apparently been far from optimum. The owners of the MRT have since revealed that no technical audit has apparently been done since 2012, when the maintenance provider was changed (reportedly given to a company belonging to somebody relatively special), and that proposals for such an audit to be done by a third party expert – suggested was MRT Hong Kong, which runs a wonderfully efficient and extensive system – to be paid for by the private owners not the government, were ignored by our dear DOTC (Department of non-Transportation and mis-Communication). News that everybody finally agreed to have MRT Hong Kong come in – their people arrive tomorrow – and take a look at our MRT is little comfort, and does not at all increase confidence in and respect for those *** running the rail system.

Whether the charges of extortion, shake-downs, campaign fund-raising, nepotism and other shapes and forms of corruption are true or not, the fact still remains that the MRT has not been properly maintained; at least, apparently, not since 2012, when the maintenance contractor since 2000 was changed. Was the MRT accident-free for those 12 years?

The MRT EDSA line is such a crucial one, especially in the light of the increasingly horrendous traffic situation and the many roadworks that are being undertaken. That our officials have not seen fit to – or have chosen not to – have the rail line properly maintained, and are only doing so now, after a bad accident has happened, is nothing short of criminal. Even stupidity, or teka-teka, or an apology won’t cut it. They should take the train – to oblivion.