(Editorial Cartoon by Joshua Cabrera)
(Editorial Cartoon by Joshua Cabrera)

Editorial: Inadequacies

THE decision by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 and the Land Transportation Office 7 to go after buses that allow their passengers to stand on the aisles of the vehicles has exposed the inadequacies of the public transport sector here. Standing on the aisles of buses, or overloading, is a practice that is a product of the lack of public utility vehicles in many routes.

The recent call by Jonathan Tumulak, manager of the Cebu South Bus Terminal, for LTFRB 7, to end the moratorium imposed on the issuance of new franchises for public utility buses (PUBs) was rebuffed by LTFRB 7 Eduardo Motealto Jr. It turned out that the granting of new franchises for PUBs, particularly for southern Cebu, is being tied to the submission by local government units of their respective Local Public Transport Route Plans (LPTRP). This is included in the so-called Omnibus Franchising Guidelines (OFG) of the LTFRB.

In August last year, then LTFRB 7 director Ahmed Cuizon set the ball rolling for the crafting of the LPTRP by training traffic managers and traffic planners. Cuizon at that time gave the LGUs six months to submit their LPTRPs to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for approval. It will only be after the LPTRPs are approved that the LTFRB will impose the LPTRP.

Did Montealto follow-up the process initiated by Cuizon? January would be the fifth month since the LGUs were urged to craft their LPTRPs. How many LGUs have submitted their LPTRPs to the DOTr and how many of these were already approved? Here, time is of the essence considering that the policy disallowing standing passengers inside buses or the clamp down on overloading is tied to the adequacy of public utility vehicles in many routes.

The LTFRB 7, the LTO 7 and other agencies have been coming up with policies aimed at strictly implementing traffic laws and regulations, especially those involving the public transport sector. But there are laws and regulations that once implemented could be detrimental to the general interest of the commuting public.

The giving of new franchises can partly address the lack of public utility vehicles in some routes that causes overloading. If the submission by the LGUs of of the LPTRP is the problem, then Montealto should act on it.

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