Wednesday, March 21, 2007 Proposal to allow entry of Irisan jeeps to biz zone hangs By Rimaliza Opiña
THE Baguio City Council referred to the committee on laws the plight of commuters of Irisan who are clamoring for the approval of the request of a breakaway group of drivers that they be allowed to ferry passengers all the way to the central business district (CBD).
This as several proposals have been brought to the fore as a result of claims and counterclaims of Irisan commuters ranging from the Irisan Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association's (Ijoda) alleged inability to service all commuters in the barangay, internal conflict among the affected drivers, lifting of the moratorium and exemption from the coverage of the Number Coding Ordinance.
Following the opposition of Ijoda to the Cypress-UP Village Operators and Drivers Association's (Cujoda) application for the amendment of their franchise, the City Council earlier approved a 30-day experiment where Ijoda was ordered to add units that would ferry Cypress, Marville and UP commuters to determine if indeed, Ijoda drivers could service Irisan passengers.
Although the experiment was vetoed, this nonetheless pushed through. At the end of the experiment, Cypress commuters complained that despite assurance from Ijoda, the problem on the lack of units persists.
Affected commuters told the City Council that they have to wait for at least 45 minutes before they could take a ride going to downtown Baguio.
If Cujoda drivers whose franchises allow them to unload only at Cooyeesan are allowed entry to the CBD, affected commuters said this would not only give convenience to them but to drivers who also depend on this job to sustain their families.
But efforts at amending the Cujoda franchise were not acted upon by the City Council because of the existing moratorium on the issuance of franchises.
