Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has ordered City Councilor Lady Gles Gonzales-Pallen, Liga ng mga Barangay president, to inform all the barangay officials to monitor the possible stranded passengers within their areas of jurisdiction.
This was after the operators and drivers of unconsolidated public utility jeepneys (PUJs) were only given until May 15 to operate.
City Administrator Lucille Gelvolea said Thursday, May 16, that the barangays could also deploy their vehicle to cater to the stranded passengers within their area.
For the city employees, she said the offices can also provide vehicles to transport their employees.
As of Thursday, she added that they’ve not received any report yet of stranded passengers.
Gelvolea stressed that the consolidated groups also assured the city that they had enough units to operate in Bacolod.
She also said they forwarded the list of an additional 200 PUJs, who are under the interim period that had been part of the consolidated group, to the Land Transportation and Franchising Board (LTFRB)-Western so that they will be given a sticker with quick response (QR) code.
She said last week, they had already issued stickers with QR codes to at least 239 PUJ drivers under the interim period that had been part of the consolidated group.
She added that the 239 drivers were already members of the consolidated group where their Provisional Authority (PA) will be valid until December this year.
“The stickers will prove that they are part of the interim period to change their PUJ units in December this year,” Gelvolea said.
She said it’s in the hands of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to apprehend the unconsolidated PUJ drivers who continue to operate in the city.
Gelvolea disclosed that the unconsolidated PUJ drivers can also submit their proposal to the city so that they can determine how to provide them assistance.*