LTFRB: ‘No vax, no ride’ policy not implemented in Cebu

THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB 7) clarified that the “no vaccine, no ride” policy is not being implemented in Cebu.

LTFRB 7 Director Eduardo Montealto Jr. told SunStar Cebu Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, that despite Cebu being escalated to Alert Level 3, the guidelines issued by the Department of Transportation cover only Metro Manila.

Montealto also acknowledged that despite their daily operation against overloading, there were still a lot of drivers who were violating the 70 percent maximum passenger capacity set by the Inter-Agency Task Force.

There is also a huge demand for public transport, especially during rush hour, but the agency is not eyeing to add more public utility vehicles (PUVs) since it will contribute to the traffic congestion, said Montealto.

Montealto also urged local chief executives to expedite the creation of the Local Public Transport Route Plan, which is one of the possible solutions to address the problem of public transportation in Metro Cebu.

The LPTRP will identify routes that are overserved or underserved by PUVs.

Montealto said a route is overserved if there are more PUVs plying compared to the actual number of passengers in that area while the underserved route is the opposite.

Once the local government unit (LGU) has submitted its route plan, the LTFRB will issue a permit to PUVs to augment the rides in the underserved routes, said Montealto.

Montealto added that the program commenced in 2017 but until now, only Mandaue City has been able to submit a route plan.

The regional director also encouraged LGUs to deploy government-owned vehicles to shuttle their employees and mitigate the problem in commuting during peak hours.