Conceptualized in the late 1980s, the Metro Rail Transit 3 or the MRT3 Project (formerly known as the EDSA Light Rail Transit 3) –a light railway transit line that would traverse the cities of Quezon, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay in Metro Manila— has been in operation since 2000. The aim was to provide a mass transit system along EDSA to help alleviate the traffic congestion problem in the metropolis. Spanning about 16.9 kilometers, the MRT3 consists of 13 stations located in North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Kamuning, Cubao, Santolan-Annapolis, Ortigas, Shaw Boulevard, Boni Avenue, Guadalupe, Sen. Gil Puyat (Buendia), Ayala Avenue, Magallanes Avenue and Taft Avenue.