| Manila Light Rail Transit System |
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<tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">Locale</th><td class="" style="">Metro Manila</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">Transit type</th><td class="" style="">Rapid transit</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">Began operation</th><td class="" style="">December 1, 1984</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">System length</th><td class="" style="">28.8 km</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">No. of lines</th><td class="" style="">2</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">No. of stations</th><td class="" style="">29</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">Daily ridership</th><td class="" style="">about 380,000</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">Track gauge</th><td class="" style="">1435 mm (standard gauge)</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space:nowrap;">Operator(s)</th><td class="" style="">Light Rail Transit Authority</td></tr>
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A Yellow Line train stopping at a station
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. There are two lines to the LRT: LRT-1, called the Yellow Line, and MRT-2, called the Purple Line. Although the system is referred to as a "light rail" system, arguably because the network is mostly elevated, the system is more akin to a rapid transit (metro) system in European-North American terms. The Manila LRT is the first metro system in Southeast Asia, built earlier than the Singapore MRT by three years. The system is not related to the Manila Metro Rail Transit System, or the Blue Line, which forms a completely different but linked system.
The LRT forms part of Metro Manila's rail transportation infrastructure, known as the Strong Republic Transit System (SRTS),[1] and overall public transport system. Although one of the original purposes of the system was to reduce traffic congestion in the metropolis, many commuters who ride the LRT also take various forms of road-based public transport, such as buses, to reach the intended destination from an LRT station and vice-versa. While this forms a comprehensive transportation system serving many parts of Metro Manila, the system has only been partially successful in cutting traffic congestion and travel times, which is further aggravated by the rising number of motor vehicles in Metro Manila.[2] The network's expansion, which has been touted by successive administrations since the LRT's inception, is set upon tackling this problem.
The system is operated by the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), a government-owned and controlled corporation under the authority of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) as an attached agency.
