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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
July 16, 2025 | 10:08am
Commuters enter the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 in Taft Avenue station in May 2022.
The STAR / Jesse Bustos, File
MANILA, Philippines — The metro’s major railways are offering a 50% discount for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on Wednesday, July 16.
Marcos launched the discount program at the MRT-3 Santolan-Annapolis Station.
“Ang makikinabang dito sa programang ito ay siguro mga 13 milyong senior citizen at saka 7 milyon na PWD,” Marcos told the crowd.
(Around 13 million senior citizens and 7 million PWDs will benefit from this program.)
The 50% discount is available on the MRT-3, LRT-1, and LRT-2, and will be valid until 2028.
Prior to this, students were also granted a 50% discount, with dedicated lanes established for them.
Marcos also announced that the Dalian trains are now operational.
The Dalian trains, purchased by the government in 2014, had remained unused due to compatibility issues with the MRT-3 line.
“Binalikan natin itong mga ito at tiniyak natin na kung anuman ang kailangang gawin para magamit ang Dalian train na ito ay gawin na natin,” Marcos said.
(We reviewed everything to determine what needed to be done and we took the necessary steps to make the Dalian trains operational.)
The Chinese firm behind the trains, the CCRC Dalian Co., modified the trains. They have gone through a series of checks and audits by Japanese and German firms.
The government purchased 48 Dalian trains, with several of them being deployed as of today. Each train can carry 1,200 passengers, and is expected to reduce waiting time from 4 minutes to 2.5 minutes.
