Public Transportation Social Distancing Rules to Ease on Sep. 14

The Department of Transportation (DOTR) announced that social distancing rules will begin to ease on September 14.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has approved the proposal pushed by the Economic Development Cluster (EDC) and DOTR to increase capacity of public transportation through easing social distancing requirements.

Arthur Tugade, Transportation Secretary, said “There is a need to safely optimize the carrying capacity of the various public transport modes as Metro Manila and its adjacent areas continue with the transition towards the “new normal” where more workers are expected to return to their re-opened workplaces and more businesses are expected to resume operations that were stopped during the enforcement of strict quarantine measures,”

The adjusted capacity of railway lines per train carriage with reduced physical distancing will be as follows:

LRT-1

• 1-meter: 155
• 0.75-meter: 204
• 0.5-meter: 255
• 0.3-meter: 300

LRT-2

• 1-meter: 160
• 0.75-meter: 212
• 0.5-meter: 274
• 0.3-meter: 502

MRT-3

• 1-meter: 153
• 0.75-meter: 204
• 0.5-meter: 255
• 0.3-meter: 286

PNR

• 1-meter: 166
• 0.75-meter: 184
• 0.5-meter: 256
• 0.3-meter: 320

The DOTR said reducing physical distancing means standing passengers “may be accommodated,” for jeepneys and buses.