NETIZENS online answered a resounding “yes” when SunStar Cebu asked if favor the proposed phaseout of jeepneys and express service vehicles in 2020.
They also want to see the country’s mass transportation system upgraded fast.
For Dan Linus, modernization is needed for progress but stressed the government’s duty to recompense all the drivers affected.
“It is an essential part of progress and of improving our public mass transportation system.
It is the government’s responsibility to reduce the impact of this initiative to the displaced drivers,” Linus said.
With a number of road mishaps because of failed engines, some netizens see no reason the “dated” jeepneys should continue to ply the streets.
Netizens also feel safer while commuting in modern jeepneys since most of them are equipped with security cameras and global positioning systems.
Some believe that once they are phased out, pollution, both air and noise, will be reduced significantly as the “obsolete” jeepneys are prone to smoke belching and have high-decibel horns.
“Jeepneys are relics of the past. They are no longer an efficient way of mass transportation.
We need a more efficient, clean and safe public transportation,” Facebook user Jhay Arnold Belandres said.
While other netizens are convinced that phasing out jeepneys erase its significance to history and culture, some argued that cultural identity should not be attached to technological evolution.
Filipinos had a different mode of transportation, such as tartanillas, before the widespread appeal of the repurposed military jeeps of World War 2.
“YES. Bring the technology in. Evolution is part of the game. This is the time to embrace the future,” netizen Angelito Gamboa wrote.