BUS operators in Cebu will have no choice but to modernize their fleets.
Julie Flores, president of the Cebu Mini Bus Association, said that the Supreme Court junked their petition asking the National Government to give them at least three years to save money to buy modern vehicles.
Flores said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) issued a department order (DO) last Jan. 2 requiring bus and mini bus operators who are applying for franchise with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to use Euro 4 units.
Another DO was issued by the agency requiring them to have a global positioning system, speed limiter, closed-circuit television camera, dashboard camera and wireless internet installed in all their units.
“So that is the policy that we are following. As professionals, we did not show to the public the decision to scrap buses worth millions of pesos, in the name of modernization. You did not hear any protest,” he said.
Flores made clear that they are in favor of the government’s modernization program.
In fact, he said that Japanese experts will bring him to Japan to give him inputs on the kind of vehicles that will be used in the country.
“Our group has ordered about 40 units of Euro 4 but we will be the ones to conduct the body-building. I have a motor shop to make the body of the vehicles following their (government) specifications,” he added. (EOB)