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When times are tough, Pinoys commute

by Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
Created 07/08/2009 - 20:35

When times are tough, Pinoys commute [1]

by Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 07/08/2009 8:35 PM

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MANILA - More and more Metro Manila

residents are taking to public transport
during the economic crunch, a Nielsen
survey revealed.

The survey, which focused on the travel

habits of commuters on the Metro Rail
Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT)
systems, showed that 78% or 5.78 million
people in Metro Manila are riding the trains
at an average of 4 to 5 times a week.

Jay Bautista, Executive Director of Nielsen

Philippines, said this may be in response to
high gasoline prices and the economic slowdown. "Even white collar workers are now
riding trains because oil prices are going up. Businessmen, too, are using it rather than
bringing their own cars," he said.

The survey showed that MRT-3 riders are predominantly white collar and blue collar
workers aged 25 to 49, while LRT-1 riders are primarily students aged 15 to 24.

LRT-2 had the same student demographic, but also showed a distinct set of businessmen
passengers aged 50 and above. Nielsen found that the LRT-2 is a favorite route taken by
businessmen who want to buy cheap goods at Divisoria, a bargain hotspot in Manila.

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Bing Kimpo, a marketing executive working for the Metro Rail Transit Corporation, said
that the MRT-3 line has seen a spike in passenger volume early this year because some
drivers wanted to save on gas.

"Passengers would ditch their cars or park at a nearby mall and take the train instead.
You're seeing that kind of phenomenon," he said.

MRT-3 stretches from SM North in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay. LRT-1 services
routes from Monumento in Caloocan to Baclaran. LRT-2, meanwhile, goes from Santolan
in Pasig to Recto in Manila.

Commuter profile

The survey also found that commuters have favorite train stations where they tend to
crowd, like Cubao, North Edsa, and Taft stations on MRT-3.

Peak hours, when trains are busiest and coaches are packed with people, are from 5:30
a.m. to 9:45 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Bautista said this information could help the MRT and LRT
administrations devise ways on how to lessen passenger
traffic at certain stations.

"They could put more benches or have special

arrangements to accommodate more people," he said.

Further, the survey noted that train commuters are:

movie fanatics
cautious buyers
technologically savvy
conscious about their physical appearance; and
more likely to go malls and dine in fast food outlets
than the average consumer.

Based on Nielsen's Media Index for the first quarter of 2009, 92% of train riders eat at fast
food outlets or go to malls twice a month, on average.

Kimpo said this may be because the MRT and LRT trains "deliver passengers right at the
doorstep or within walking distance of malls."

Finally, the survey showed that about half of Metro Manila residents (52%) or 4.2 million
people are spending more and more time outdoors. "We're more mobile now. People tend
to stay out of the house until late into the night," Kimpo said.

What this means for advertisers

Trackworks, the marketing arm

of the Metro Rail Transit
Corporation, commissioned
the study to find out how

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consumer-commuters respond
to advertisements within train
station premises, which have
been present since 1996.

"We can't measure the

effectivity of ads sa train
stations, pero ang ang alam
natin ay napapansin sila,"
Bautista said.

Trackworks plans to conduct a

quarterly MRT-LRT survey to
see whether travel habits change during the summer or Christmas holidays.

The findings are meant to guide companies on what kind of products they can advertise
within train station premises, from billboards to "train wraps" or ads placed on the train's
outer shell.

With Nielsen's survey findings proving that consumers spend more time outside the home,
Kimpo hopes this can attract more advertisers to invest in "out-of-home" advertisements.

The survey found that most commuters watch TV (88%), read the newspaper (67%) or
internet (31%), or listen to radio (35%). The top 7 products commuters consume,
meanwhile, are toothpastes, soaps, shampoos, instant noodles, coffee, soft drinks, and
vitamins.

Nielsen conducted interviews with 500 MRT3 passengers, 250 LRT1 passengers and 250
LRT2 passengers in February 2009. The survey used random sampling methods and has
a 5 percent margin of error.

The Nielsen MRT-LRT survey is considered a landmark study because it measures train
passengers' travel and media habits for the first time.

as of 07/09/2009 2:52 PM

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