The Light Rail Transit Authority posted a 28.2 percent drop in revenue in the first nine months of the year, as fare discounts ordered by the government outweighed a surge in passengers on Light Rail Transit Line 2. Revenue fell to 676.48 million pesos in the January-to-September period from 942.34 million pesos a year earlier, according to LRTA data reported by BusinessWorld.
Passenger traffic rose 15 percent to 48.32 million over the same period, highlighting the gap between ridership growth and fare collections. The decline followed the Department of Transportation's order granting a 50 percent fare discount on LRT-2 and Metro Rail Transit services after the government declared an emergency in response to the Iran war, BusinessWorld reports.
The third quarter was hit hardest, with revenue dropping 35.4 percent to 194.58 million pesos even as ridership from July to September climbed 14.3 percent to 16.57 million passengers. For 2026, the LRTA is targeting fare revenue of 1.1 billion pesos and ridership of 60.62 million passengers.
If the annual ridership target is achieved, the LRTA expects average daily ridership of about 165,624 passengers, which would exceed the 56.98 million passengers recorded in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic. The agency is also working with the International Finance Corp. on the planned privatization of LRT-2 through a public-private partnership.
According to the LRTA, the government aims to use private sector participation to expand the rail line and increase ridership further. Transportation officials have said private expertise could improve service and capacity on one of Metro Manila's busiest rail lines, though any privatization deal would need to balance investor returns with the fare relief currently benefiting commuters. Commuters have felt the relief in their wallets even as the agency absorbs the cost, a trade-off officials say is justified by the emergency.