At looooooooooooonnnnnnnngggggggggggggg last, Tutubi can heave a sign of relief when he passed by EDSA Munoz yesterday and saw the banner at the long "under construction" LRT Roosevelt Station finally open. He waited about a year for the station to finally open after getting tired of the government's LRTA "praise releases" that it was to open last January then March until this latest news.
Last October 1, Tutubi rode the LRT from Buendia station up to LRT Balintawak station which was opened a few months ago but had to take taxi from there to get home. Before he went home, he asked LRT personnel on the scheduled opening of the station to which he got the reply that it going to be on October 15, the skeptical Tutubi didn't believe it that's why he didn't blog about it and correct he was until this official announcement.
Note that LRT Roosevelt station is a mere stones throw away from Tutubi's home (at least you get the idea of where he's living) and though he has a car, the backpacker in him still prefers to commute around Metro Manila. From his Quezon City home he can now visit Raon and Hidalgo, in Quiapo, Manila in just a few minutes via Carriedo Station, Recto, Arranque Market and Divisoria via Recto Station, Luneta (Rizal Park) and Manila Ocean Park thru U.N.Avenue station, CCP Complex via Vito Cruz Station, SM Mall of Asia thru EDSA station and Baclaran Church via Baclaran station.
The best part of it all is that he's saying goodbye to the MRT, of which 9 years under PGMA had turned from bad to worst, something he endures on Thursdays (his number coding day) or whenever he's too lazy to drive to Makati.
Pictures and comments will be posted once available as well as information on food stalls present. Note that the station is directly in front of Walter Mart North EDSA, Muñoz Market and provides access to Project 7 (Veteran's Village), Bago-bantay, Frisco via Roosevelt Avenue and Project 8 via Congressional Avenue. LRT fare from this station to LRT Baclaran station is PhP20.00 with travel time of approximately 40 minutes.
Just keep your fingers crossed on the opening of LRT North Avenue station, to fully interconnect with MRT North Avenue station. It will really take some time for this as the plan has to be modified to already take into consideration a mega-station that will connect LRT to the MRT and the proposed MRT-7 that links them to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.
For now, all he can say is: goodbye MRT, Hello LRT! :P
the long wait is over...
ReplyDeletelet's celebrate!
Ohai possible neighbor lol
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how this will connect to the MRT. I'm pretty sure there will be some walking involved. Great that it's fully connected to the main LRT line though.
hmmm...d ko nga a;am na may bagong LRT pala. haha thank you for this post, magagamit ko to paglumuwas ako ng Maynila, very helpful! :D
ReplyDeletedodong, sa wakas talaga...kakainis na MRT sa sobra sikip saka comuute to makati ko bus-mrt-bus ngayon lrt-bus na lang :P
ReplyDeletenina, may walking yan as usual just like the LRT 1 to LRT 2 link and the LRT to MRT link at EDSA-Taft. hope they execute this well with the MRT 7 terminal at the corner or EDSA and West Avenue.
thepinaysolobackpacker, hehe di lang bago pero matagal pa yun just like the planned extension of LRT 1 to Bacoor Cavite plus the extension of LRT 2 to Masinag, Antipolo (di yata tuloy yung extension ng LRT 2 to North Harbor). watch also the link of SouthRial to NortRail and the PNR...mass transit railways sana mabilis matapos
MRT during rush hour is a nightmare...daig pa ang sardinas :) btw, it was during the time of PGMA that this LRT extension was conceptualized. PGMA pushed for the "closing of the loop" (connecting monumento and North Ave stn). At that time, single ticketing system was also explored. I heard that there will be single ticketing system soon but I haven't confirmed that yet.
ReplyDeleteThere was a master plan for the train system in Manila. The problem is that after LRT1, EDSA revolution happened at hindi siya naging priority kaya hindi natuloy yong master plan.
wow naman! maganda yan para mas mabilis, pero bawas kita din sa mga ordinaryong drayber ng jeep at bus. oh well, ganun tlga. salamat sa impormasyon! :)
ReplyDeleteNina, i took the LRT kanina and believe me, parang ganun na rin sya. jampacked sa monumento...probably will just post a separate entry here later. It was really GMA who initiated of closing the loop since the LRTA is not the one managing MRT which should have been extended to Monumento then a super-terminal to be built under the Bonifacio Monument. Instead, to get it done faster, the LRT 1 was instead extended to North Avenue and to meet with MRT 7, an unsolicited proposal and now on consultation stage. On the single ticketing, how I wsih we also have that system in place similar to HK's Octopus card and Singapore's EZlink but it's coming...don't know how soon though
ReplyDeletethepinaysolobacker, IMHO, jeepneys should be phased out of metro manila, they're too unsafe, promote disorganized loading/unloading, pollution sources, too powerful for their load thus inefficient. most people think they're products of filipino ingenuity but that was almost 70 years ago...re-invention of the jeepney is what's needed...also some routes affected should be phased out already like the MCU-Munoz route on EDSA that clogs the EDSA Munoz intersection along with the Munoz-Pantranco jeeps making an illegal terminal at Munoz Market on Roosevelt Avenue. The Munoz - Vito Cruz via Blumentritt and Sta. Cruz also needs to be reduced in number but the LTFRB are just too lazy to think but might also be pressured by politicians.