This first bit of roundup news is, disclaimer, a news item yet to be confirmed by the party/ies in question. Nevertheless, it is something of a good news to start things off.
Reports say that Ayala Land is currently looking at possibly acquiring the “chaka” (Filipino gay lingo for cheap, though in this case, it’s more of an extravagant waste) Makati eyesore that is the unfinished JAKA Tower along Ayala Avenue. (one cannot resist doing that “chaka” and “JAKA” wordplay, no?)
With so many problems Metro Manila’s Line 3 mass transit rail system is having for…God knows how long, it has become a tiring and uneasy job for me to write about yet another issue about this darned rail line. Especially if you have been keeping abreast with the news about the metropolitan mass transit system for a long while now, which in my case, precedes that of the Urban Roamer. (which is turning 5 soon, but that’s another matter altogether)
But what happened last Wednesday afternoon, August 13, is something for the books. Who would have thought we would get to this record low? Maybe some of us did and it was just of matter of when. Still the fact that it actually happened is depressing that no snark or joke can alleviate the rage many of us feel for the failure of the people at the top in addressing the longstanding issues of mass transport.
If the problems of malfunctioning trains and the alleged corrupt practices of the sacked/resigned general manager of a metropolitan rail transit administering body were not enough woes to the metropolis’ mass transport system, well here comes another one that is surely to make mass transportation “more fun in Metro Manila.”
The issue at stake now is the building of a common station, which is intended to the common terminal for mass rail transit Lines 1 and 3, as well as that of the planned Line 7 which would run all the way to San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan. This would be the vital missing ingredient that was missing that would make at least the current mass transit loop of Lines 1 and 3 complete as at the moment, passengers are deprived of what would have been a convenient transfer between lines.
At the crux of this issue is a dispute as to where it would be located, something that may or may not involve some external forces at play. At stake is the welfare of millions of commuters who will benefit from the convenience or inconvenience of this common station, depending on where it will eventually be built.
The Line 3 Metro Rail Transit train woes continue…at least until the new trains arrive by early next year.
For the meantime, to meet the demands of the growing number of commuters taking the Line 3 trains every day, a couple of new schemes were recently implemented by the government which we are going to take a quick look here.