LRT passengers drop 9.6% in March, still up 19% y-o-y

The Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system recorded its lowest daily passenger figure this year in March (29,100), representing a month-on-month drop of 9.6%.

This is also the first time this year that the daily average drops below 30,000.

Still, compared with March last year, March 2021 year-over-year numbers were up 18.8%.

On aggregate and for the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, the LRT has carried an average of 30,733 passengers per day, which is 19.9% more than in Q1 of 2025.

To note that this February, the system finally broke the overall record for average daily passengers, which had held since the first month of operations in December 2019, when trips were free.

Recently, following the preliminary results of a public consultation on the future of the LRT, the government announced that it would refine the system to make it more attractive to users.

The first, and maybe one of the most significant, measures to be undertaken for the time being is the rollout of new payment methods at the turnstiles, which are said to include QR Code payments starting in Q3 this year.

Another measure aired by the government, as a bid to increase the system’s attractiveness, is the pairing of this with the public bus system on a unified platform that offers transfer discounts.

This measure has been called for since the start of the LRT system’s operation. Still, it has always been refuted by the former Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, who claimed that such integration was impossible due to its complexity and because the LRT and the bus system operated in completely different ways. While the LRT is owned and operated by the government, the buses operate in a public-private partnership through subsidized concessions.

Several voices in society have also called for changes to the system’s operation, including several lawmakers who, through spoken inquiries and opinions shared in debates, have called for the system to be used as a priority and as a mass carrier during large-scale events and festive seasons.