Walang nagawa sa MRT?

As DOTC Secretary for just 13 months:

Mar sought the budget and NEDA approval for the purchase of new train coaches to add capacity to the MRT system. He was the first government official/DOTC Secretary to do this despite the fact that the need to buy new train coaches was known early on in PGMA’s term. These new train coaches are already in the process of being operationalized.

Mar was also the first to call out Sumitomo on their poor maintenance of the MRT system for over a decade. If no one had done this, it would have risked commuter lives all for the sake of continuing the status quo.

He got the ball rolling for the Automatic Fare Collection System (now known as beep) that created a single ticketing system for the MRT and the two LRT lines.

It is not true that “MRT ‘mistakes’ started in Roxas’ DOTC stint”, as headlined in a newspaper. These mistakes started long before the Aquino administration.

Kat Usita, a former staff member of DOTC, has written an extensive piece detailing the source of the “MRT mistakes”. An excerpt of her article is quoted above.

A more comprehensive study, with data admittedly taken on “a best efforts basis”, has been published in the SONA-cited “Society of Honor” blog.