MANDAUE City will soon have 105 more modern public utility jeepneys (MPUJs) within its “intra-city route structures” to address the increasing volume of commuters in the city.

Loreto Gerez Jr., chairman of the Mandaue Transport Cooperative (MTC), told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, that they will deploy these vehicles soon.

The MPUJs will traverse four routes: Paknaan-Parkmall, Cabangcalan-Parkmall, Hernan Cortes-Parkmall, and Canduman-Parkmall.

On Tuesday, MTC also launched 15 MPUJs that will ply Paknaan to Parkmall route and vice versa.

The jeepneys will take the route from Cansaga Bridge in Barangay Paknaan to Pacific Mall, under Maguikay flyover, B.B. Cabahug Street, A. Del Rosario Street, Mandaue Public Market, then to Parkmall.

From Parkmall, the buses will pass the road along Guizo Barangay Hall, A. Del Rosario Street, S.B. Cabahug Street, U.N. Avenue, D.M. Cortes Street, and back to Paknaan.

The vehicles also had their dry run on Tuesday.

The drug run was joined by officials of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Region (LTFRB)-Central Visayas, Land Transportation Office (LTO)-Central Visayas, Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team), and the Mandaue City Government.

Gerez said the 15 MPUJs would be fully operational by Wednesday, November 9, and would observe a minimum fare of P14.

Earlier this year, the Mandaue City Council requested LTFRB-Central Visayas to grant additional provisional authority (PA) to its MPUJs plying the intra-city route structures.

Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, who sponsored the resolution, said the number of MPUJs granted provisional authority by the LTFRB is not enough to serve the volume of passengers in the city.

Under the city's Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP), the intra-city route structures are expected to enhance the connectivity of the different quadrants in the city.

An additional PA aims to operate a decent number of MPUJ units, which was believed to address the shortage of public transportation in the authorized routes and cater to the influx of passengers during rush hours.

It can be recalled that the LTFRB had already chosen a transportation provider for each authorized route by public bidding, of which MTC was one of those granted approval by the agency. (HIC)