ONLY about half of the 100 buses assigned to the free ride program in Cebu are consistently on the road. This surfaced during a meeting with operators and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 after the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) received a wave of commuter complaints about missing rides, especially during the early morning rush.
Cebu City Councilor Winston Pepito, chairman of the transportation committee, confirmed that only about 50 modern public utility vehicles (MPUVs), or small buses, on the 01K route are consistently participating in the Libreng Sakay program of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
IDEA BEHIND LIBRENG SAKAY. When the DOTr launched Libreng Sakay on July 23, 2025, Cebu was the first in the Visayas to pilot it. The program promised free rides during peak commuting hours — 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., weekends and holidays included — on one of Metro Cebu’s busiest corridors: V. Urgello St., Cebu City to Parkmall in Mandaue City. MPUVs under 01K ply this route.
The program is meant to ease the financial burden of commuters, who often spend a significant share of daily wages on transport. The government pledged subsidies to keep the program sustainable until 2028, with some P150 to P160 million earmarked for the route.
On paper, the program looked generous and forward-looking. In practice, it quickly ran into the problem of missing buses.
GAP BETWEEN PAPER AND ROAD. LTFRB 7’s GPS-based monitoring is crucial in confirming complaints. The system has shown that many units either skipped required service hours or failed to leave their garages at all. Instead of 100 buses, only about 50 were consistently running during the designated windows.
For passengers, that meant long waits, overcrowding in the few operating buses, and reliance on motorcycles-for-hire, which defeated the program’s main goal of providing accessible, no-cost transportation.
OPERATORS AND DRIVERS: DIFFERENT STORIES. Operators denied deliberately withholding vehicles. They offered two reasons for lapses: drivers taking breakfast breaks around 6:30 a.m., and delays in affixing the required “Libreng Sakay” stickers, a process they claimed could eat up hours.
But drivers painted a different picture. Two of them, speaking anonymously to SunStar Cebu, said the structure of the program itself discourages them from running more trips. They are limited to two service windows daily — one set of trips in the morning, another in the evening. Beyond that, they are not covered by subsidies and must shoulder fuel expenses themselves.
One driver explained: “We only have two trips, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. After that, we are no longer allowed to operate under Libreng Sakay. Passengers think we are hiding, but the rules keep us off the road.”
SUBSIDY SYSTEM. Each MPUV is allotted around P3,500 per day, pooled from the government’s P350,000 daily allocation. Over the course of a year, the 01K route alone is a massive expense.
But the subsidy goes to operators, not drivers. Drivers simply get a reduced “boundary” or rental fee. Whether they complete multiple trips or just two, their take-home pay remains largely the same.
This arrangement, Pepito admitted, has hurt drivers’ morale. Many drivers say they earn less than before, especially during peak hours when fare-paying passengers used to give them higher income. Some have even considered quitting the program entirely.
COMMUTERS BEAR THE BRUNT. The ones most affected are ordinary commuters. Instead of seeing 100 buses deployed, they often find just half of them running. Complaints have piled up with the CCTO, particularly about the crucial morning window. Some passengers reported being forced to pay for motorcycle taxis or jeepneys because free buses failed to show up.
For workers relying on a daily commute between Cebu City and Mandaue City, this means either higher transport costs or the stress of unpredictability. The promise of free, reliable rides has, so far, been only partly fulfilled.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND ENFORCEMENT. The LTFRB 7 has promised a crackdown. It now uses GPS data not only to compute subsidies but also to identify drivers and operators who fail to deploy units. Those who repeatedly miss trips may face demerit points or even sanctions from the Land Transportation Office 7.
Operators, meanwhile, pledged to cooperate by disciplining erring drivers and adjusting schedules so that breakfast breaks don’t overlap with peak demand. Still, questions remain about how strictly these measures will be enforced.
POLITICAL UNDERTONE. Like many transport programs, Libreng Sakay has a political undertone. On one hand, it allows national and local leaders to showcase concern for ordinary commuters during a time of rising fuel and fare costs. On the other, its lapses expose weaknesses in policy design and implementation.
Pepito’s candid admission that drivers are “unmotivated” reveals a disconnect between government promises and realities on the ground. Critics may point to this as another case of a well-funded project struggling because of poor planning and weak oversight. Supporters, however, may counter that the program is new, and adjustments are part of any rollout.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET. Several questions remain unanswered: Will the two-trip rule be relaxed to allow more flexibility? Can subsidies be restructured so drivers, not just operators, benefit directly? How consistent will LTFRB 7’s enforcement be, given its limited manpower? And perhaps most crucially, will commuters see improvements soon enough to restore confidence in the program?
WHAT’S NEXT. For now, the Libreng Sakay program continues with its large budget intact, guaranteed until 2028. But unless policy tweaks are made —s uch as clearer rules, stronger enforcement, and better incentives for drivers — the program risks undermining its own purpose.
For Cebu’s 20,000 daily commuters on the 01K route, the question is simple: will they really get the free, reliable rides promised, or will they keep waiting at the roadside, watching empty promises roll past? / CAV WITH BRYCE KEN ABELLON, USJ-R INTERN