MANILA – The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) logged 353,553 passengers on Thursday, the highest single-day ridership the MRT-3 has recorded since its resumption of operations at the height of the pandemic in June 2020.

This, compared to an average of 250,000 to 300,000 daily passengers in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement on Friday, MRT-3 officer-in-charge General Manager Michael Capati said the MRT-3 is ready to provide its services to even more passengers during the third month of its Libreng Sakay (free ride) program.

He said the free ride program and the increase in ridership helped the MRT-3 in testing the maximum passenger capacity of the rail service.

“Mahalaga po ito especially dahil natapos na po ang ating rehabilitation at nasa maintenance phase na po tayo. Bukod dun, layon din natin na patuloy na makatulong sa mga pasahero sa kanilang mga gastusin (This is important because we have completed rehabilitation and now we’re at the maintenance phase. Aside from this, we aim to continue helping our passengers in their daily expenses),” Capati said.

To date, the MRT-3 is currently operating an average of 14 to 16 three-car trains and four four-car trains along its mainline.

He noted that the current free ride program is also the longest time such a program has been implemented in the MRT-3.

The MRT-3 has so far provided 15,730,872 free rides from March 28 — the start of the free ride program — to Tuesday, May 24.

The free ride program, which was set to end on May 30, was extended for another month until June 30, the last day of the Duterte administration. (PNA)