The Strong Republic Transit System was launched to integrate the various rail lines providing public transport in Manila in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The program was initiated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously ...

on June 14, 2003. It aimed to provide a "reliable, seamless and integrated mass transit system that would be at par with international standards" through the unification of already-existing rail infrastructure under one transit system and fare structure. The

Manila Light Rail Transit System The Manila Light Rail Transit System ( fil, Sistema ng Magaang Riles Panlulan ng Maynila), commonly known as the LRT, is an urban rail transit system that primarily serves Metro Manila, Philippines. Although categorized as a light rail system ...

( Line 1 and Line 2), the

Manila Metro Rail Transit System The Manila Metro Rail Transit System (MRTS), commonly known as the MRT, is a rapid transit system that primarily serves Metro Manila, Philippines. Along with the Manila Light Rail Transit System and the Metro Commuter Line of the Philippin ...

( Line 3) and the

Philippine National Railways The Philippine National Railways (PNR) ( fil, Pambansang Daang-Bakal ng Pilipinas and es, Ferrocarril Nacional de Filipinas) is a state-owned railway company in the Philippines which operates one commuter rail service between Metro Manila a ...

(PNR) Northrail and Southrail lines were covered by the SRTS project.The Strong Republic Transit System
www.lrta.gov.ph, February 3, 2004

Links

The SRTS project provided for seven "links", i.e.

interchange station An interchange station or a transfer station is a train station for more than one railway route in a public transport system that allows passengers to change from one route to another, often without having to leave a station or pay an additio ...

s where commuters would be able to seamlessly transfer from one line to the other. When the program was initiated four links were in use. The Santa Mesa and Recto Link were added in April 2004, when the already under construction Line 2 became fully operational. The Northrail project has been cancelled in September 2012, as a result the Caloocan Link is missing. The proposed extension of Southrail services to Caloocan, which was part of SRTS, was not executed either. The closing of the loop has as of 2015 almost been completed by extending Line 1 with five new stations, unlike originally outlined by the plan. Line 1 would require one more station to connect it with Line 2. In order of operation the following links have been realized (color coding has since been changed):

Fare integration

The project aimed to unify fare systems on the lines through the use of

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit-card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...

s, similar to the Octopus card in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and the

EZ-Link The EZ-Link card is a rechargeable contactless smart card and electronic money system that is primarily used as a payment method for public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, o ...

card in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. The integrated system has not been implemented, as the project was dropped. A weekly ticket which is valid on Lines 1-3 has been introduced in 2004 though. For ₱ 250 one can make an unlimited number of rides per day on Lines 1-3 during one calendar week with the so-called ''Flash Pass Card''.

References

{{Transportation in the Philippines Public transportation in the Philippines Rail transportation in Metro Manila Rail transportation in the Philippines Transportation in Luzon

Links

Fare integration

See also

References