Getting around Manila: trains, buses, jeepneys and rides

The three rail lines, and what each one is for

They are named confusingly, so it helps to think of them by corridor rather than by number.

LRT Line 1 runs the north-south corridor between Fernando Poe Jr. station in Quezon City and Dr. Santos station in Parañaque, passing through Quezon City, Caloocan, Manila, Pasay and Parañaque. The Light Rail Transit Authority lists 25 active stations, with the system extending to roughly 26 kilometres after the first phase of the Cavite extension. Day-to-day operations are run by Light Rail Manila Corporation under a long concession agreement with the transport department and the authority.

LRT Line 2 runs east-west, from Antipolo in Rizal province to Recto in Manila, crossing Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, San Juan and Manila. It has 13 stations across about 17.6 kilometres.

MRT-3 runs along EDSA, the main ring road, from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay, with 13 stations across about 16.9 kilometres. The transport department holds the franchise and runs the system.

Between them, those three lines cover a large share of the trips visitors actually make, and none of them sit in road traffic.

Get a beep card early

beep is the stored-value card issued by AF Payments, and it is accepted on LRT-1, LRT-2 and MRT-3, on selected city buses including the BGC Bus, on most point-to-point buses, and at some retail partners.

You can buy one at any LRT-1, LRT-2 or MRT-3 station, either from a teller booth or a ticket vending machine. Reloading works at stations, at partner terminals, through the beep app, or through mobile wallets such as GCash and Maya. Single journey tickets exist for individual lines if you would rather not buy a card, but if you expect more than a couple of rail trips, the card pays for itself in queue time alone.

Operating hours are shorter than you expect

This is the detail that strands people. The rail lines are not late-night services. LRT-1's operator published weekday first trains at 4:30am and last trains from the terminal stations in the second half of the evening, and MRT-3 publicly extended its weekday last trips to later evening departures.

The practical takeaway: check the last train for your line and direction if you are out in the evening, and have a fallback plan. After the lines close, the road network is your only option, and that means an app ride.

The EDSA busway

A dedicated busway runs along EDSA with its own stations, developed jointly by the transport department and the metropolitan development authority, with stations at points including Monumento, Balintawak, Quezon Avenue, Kamuning, Santolan, Guadalupe, Buendia, Ayala and Roxas Boulevard.

It is a genuinely useful north-south option along the same corridor as MRT-3, particularly for stops the rail line does not serve well. Because it uses a separated lane, it is less exposed to general traffic than an ordinary bus.

Jeepneys and local buses

Jeepneys are the dense local layer that makes the rest of the network usable, running fixed routes with fares regulated by the transport franchising board. They do not come with a published route map in the way a rail line does, and modernised public utility vehicles have been progressively introduced alongside the traditional ones.

For a visitor, jeepneys work best as short hops once you have some orientation, and they are not the tool for crossing the metro area with luggage. Ask at your accommodation which route passes nearby and where it goes, which is a faster way to learn than any map.

Putting it together

One habit worth adopting

Check the time of day before you decide the mode. Metro Manila rewards travellers who move against the peak and punishes those who cross the city at 6pm in a car. If your plan has you making a long road journey during the evening rush, either move the plan or move it onto rail.