March 19, 2009

My station

Metro Manila, which is about 636 square kilometers in area with more than 12 million inhabitants, only has three light rail lines. Two lines belong to the Manila Light Rail Transit System and one belongs to the Manila Metro Rail Transit System. Together, their daily ridership totals less than 1.5 million people, so it is not surprising that traffic congestion remains one of the metro's biggest problems. The three lines have color codes but everybody just calls them the MRT, LRT-1 and LRT-2. This is at the MRT's Quezon Avenue station, where I begin and end most of my train rides.

Quezon Avenue station of the MRT

21 comments:

  1. lunarossaMarch 19, 2009 at 7:14 PM

    Your entries are so interesting, Hilda! Have you ever thought of publishing your blog as a book? It would be such a beautiful tribute to Manila! All the best. Ciao. A.

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  2. ReenaMarch 19, 2009 at 7:49 PM

    sana nga puro MRT tayo for easy access....three times palang ako nakasakay ng MRT. :) then, once sa LRT. :)

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  3. Ken MacMarch 19, 2009 at 8:08 PM

    Fresh air! New York Subway riders live underground...

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  4. nobuMarch 19, 2009 at 8:20 PM

    That train station looks like our train station.
    Train is good for environment.

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  5. LowellMarch 19, 2009 at 9:15 PM

    Hilda, this is an excellent photo - well composed and perfectly exposed.

    You say you only have three rail lines...most cities in the States don't have any!

    Talk about congestion!

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  6. LowellMarch 19, 2009 at 9:15 PM

    Oh, I also wanted to say that I had no idea Manilla was so big...I knew it was a large city, but your numbers stagger the mind...

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  7. OlivierMarch 19, 2009 at 9:26 PM

    tu as de la chance, aujourd'hui c'est la grande grève en France, et il n'y a pas beaucoup de trains (ni de métros) ;o(
    you are lucky, today it is big strike in France, and there are no trains (nor of subways) ;o(

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  8. LoisMarch 19, 2009 at 9:46 PM

    Very nice photo Hilda! I would love to be able to ride the train to and from work, but we don't even have that possibility here.

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  9. MojoMarch 19, 2009 at 9:53 PM

    We have no light rail in my city, and nobody's making any noises about changing that anytime soon either. I'd settle for a reliable bus system myself. Ours is... not great.

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  10. VPMarch 19, 2009 at 10:07 PM

    Three times the inhabitants of Tuscany in a metro area! That's a lot of people to move around...
    Nice shot, said by a lucky man who walks to work.

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  11. HalcyonMarch 19, 2009 at 10:34 PM

    Thanks for posting this photo. I love seeing the different forms of mass transit around the world. Whenever I visit a new city, I love taking the subway or the bus to get a feel of how life really is!

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  12. MoMarch 19, 2009 at 11:41 PM

    Looks like a more comfortable metro than London's

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  13. Juergen KuehnMarch 20, 2009 at 4:56 AM

    Your photo told me:
    Half a life we hold on for waiting. C'est la vie!

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  14. AnonymousMarch 20, 2009 at 5:14 AM

    I'm lucky to go to work by bus - from the end of my road right to the university so I can just get on and wake up a bit later and not have to worry about changing. If I worked in the centre of town it would be cheaper to use the train, but as I have to go into the city centre and out again it's cheaper and easier for me to use the bus.

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  15. GeorgeMarch 20, 2009 at 8:45 AM

    Thanks for all the interesting information about Manila. Thanks, too, for the great picture.

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  16. BrandonMarch 20, 2009 at 11:10 AM

    Hi Hilda! Your blog is very neat. I love seeing different parts of the world. Keep up the good work of representing your neck of the woods, Brandon.

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  17. escapeMarch 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM

    i like LRT line 2 the most. i hope that the rail system going to south luzon will really be good.

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  18. TaraMarch 20, 2009 at 1:09 PM

    I've never taken the LRT 2..I'll try when I'm there again.

    PS, i left an reply to your question re BBC. Come visit Bohol soon...holy week is best.

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  19. abcMarch 20, 2009 at 3:09 PM

    Just three lines is not a lot for such a large population, but it's great that you're able to make use of it yourself.

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  20. JaamZINMarch 20, 2009 at 4:02 PM

    we have only three metro lines in Budapest. They are building the fourth one now.:)

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  21. GreensboroDailyPhotoMarch 20, 2009 at 6:17 PM

    Love the way all the people are looking at the train. We humans are so predictable. You can almost hear the train in this shot.

    The word verification to post this image is "bless." Maybe you were meant to be blessed today!

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