THE Cebu City Council has urged Mayor Tomas Osmeña, through the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), to form a local public transport route plan (LPTRP) team to conduct a land transportation study that will help fix traffic route management problems in the city.
According to a resolution sponsored by Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. and approved by the council, the LPTRP seeks to reduce the reliance on private vehicles and move toward environmentally sound mobility solutions.
“Cebu City recognizes the imperative for a sustainable and reliant traffic management scheme... The City finds that LPTRP is relevant to the City’s commitment to provide long-term solutions on the problem of traffic congestion within its territorial jurisdiction,” reads a portion of the resolution.
Under Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1, signed in 2017 by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Department of Interior and Local Government, all local government units are required to have the LPTRP.
In an earlier interview, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 Director 7 Ahmed Cuizon said that under the LPTRP, the national highways will be used primarily for high-capacity vehicles such as buses, minibuses and GT Express units, while secondary or local roads will be for public utility jeepneys (PUJs) and Filcabs.
This means that PUJs and Filcabs will be prohibited from using the national highway, particularly from Carcar City to Danao City in Cebu.
Cuizon said that the LPTRPs of the local government units will have to be approved by the DOTr and LTFRB. These should also be submitted this year.
LTFRB wants all routes identified and all public transport vehicles to be brand new or less than three years old before the full implementation of the government’s public transport modernization program by Jan. 1, 2021. (RVC)