NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Light Rail Transit Authority

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) is a public transport operator that is in charge of operating and maintaining the Manila Light Rail Transit System. Founded on July 12, 1980, it is also responsible for monitoring the progress of construction of all LRT lines. It is not, however, in charge of the upkeep of the Manila Metro Rail Transit System, or MRT-3, of which those duties are relegated to the Metro Rail Transit Corporation, a private enterprise, under MRT-3's Build-Operate-Transfer agreement. Skytrain Bangkok. ... The Manila Light Rail Transit System, popularly known as the LRT, is the main metropolitan rail system serving the Metro Manila area in the Philippines. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The Manila Metro Rail Transit System, more populartly known as the MRT, is a rapid transit system serving the Metro Manila area. ... Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a franchise from the public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility for a specified period, after which ownership is transferred back to the public sector. ...

Although it has the naming format of a government agency, the LRTA is organized as a government-owned and/or controlled corporation under the Department of Transportation and Communications as an attached agency. An agency is a department of a local or national government responsible for the oversight and administration of a specific function, such as a customs agency or a space agency. ... The Philippines Department of Transportation and Communications (Filipino: Kagawaran ng Transportasyon at Komunikasyon), abbreviated as DOTC, is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the maintenance and expansion of viable, efficient, and dependable transportation and communications systems as effective instruments for national recovery and economic progress. ...

The current administrator of the LRTA is Mel Robles.

External links

Light Rail Transit Authority

Categories: Government of the Philippines

Results from FactBites:

Rail-transit fixation vs. a cheaper fix (861 words)
	More broadly, trips on public transit (of which light rail is only a fraction) actually declined from 9 percent of overall trips in 1970 to just 5.3 percent in 1990.
	Light rail is unpopular because, for most people, it is slower and less-convenient than driving.
	On average, a trip that includes a ride on light rail is half as fast as a trip by car because getting to the station, waiting for a train, transferring to and from buses, and making station stops take lots of time.

Stupid anti-rail arguments (1293 words)
	But there are still people who insist that public transit in general – and rail transit in particular – will bring crime into neighborhoods; some people even derisively refer to light rail as “loot rail” because they believe it will allow criminals easy access to wealthy suburban neighborhoods ripe for robbing.
	The aim of transit authorities is not to force people out of their cars, but rather to encourage alternatives to total automobile dependency.
	Some rail critics (usually of the libertarian variety) even take this argument a bit farther and claim that rail projects are little more than attempts at social engineering which are aimed at reversing market preferences, which overwhwelmingly tilt towards automobile ownership and use as well as sprawling, low-density suburban housing patterns.

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