Mind The Gap: The Manila Metro Rail Transit System at 1130H

Mind The Gap.

The phrase "Mind The Gap", coined in the late 1960's to warn the passengers of the space between the train and the platform, has no exact equivalent catchphrase in the Tagalog vernacular. None, as far as I know. I only learned in my overseas travels that "Mind The Gap" is actually a sign in the subways more than a T-shirt logo.

Yes, we do have a rail transit system here in the Greater Manila area. It runs along the roughly 17 km long Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue, from the North (Shoemart North EDSA station) to the South (Taft Avennue Station) of Metro Manila. It serves 13 stations in places like Quezon City, Mandaluyong, and Makati City. At some points the rail is intercepted by two other train systems. The usual time of operation is from 0530H to 2200H.

The MRT is still the most efficient means of travel in the city: it takes you to your destination relatively fast (5 stations in 10 minutes), considering that it can take up to much as one hour to travel 2 km by bus during peak hours (and peak hours here in Manila could mean...any hour during the day, hahaha). The cost of a single-travel fare ranges from PHP10 to PHP14 (about USD 0.22 to USD 0.31, or EUR 0.16 to EUR 0.23)

But the MRT is so limited: the trains are very short, not as fast as the trains I rode outside the country, and can get incredibly crowded during the peak hours. (There is little point in taking photos of the MRT at this time of the day, unless you want to attract the attention of thieves.) At times the train stops in the middle of the rail, usually because another train is in the station immediately before it: the MRT does not seem to have precise times of arrival and departure. For foreigners seeking order in the MRT, you may find this a little disconcerting.

Personally, I ride the MRT when I need to travel fast in the middle of the day. It is not as crowded, and the windows provide interesting vantage views: views which I can never see when I am in a car or a taxi cab. The MRT could use a lot of improvement in terms of making it longer and setting computerized times of arrival and departure. (Photos of views outside the window: SM Megamall, one of the largest malls in the Philippines, and a slum area near North Avenue.)

And for me, changing vantage points does me a whole lot of good in understanding the world around me.

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Pictures were taken near noontime, at 1130H. Photo of MRT at EDSA from this site.