THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has allowed unconsolidated public utility vehicles (PUVs) to operate in areas with a low number of authorized units (NAU) to ensure an unhampered public transportation.
The LTFRB approved Board Resolution 053 identifying over 2,500 routes across the country with a low number of authorized public transportation.
It said unconsolidated Public Utility Jeepneys and UV Express will be allowed to ply in these routes provided that their units are registered with the LTO and have a valid Personal Passenger Accident Insurance Coverage.
"Now therefore, to ensure the supply of public transportation in low NAU routes, the Board hereby resolves to allow individual operators of PUV and UVE on low NAU routes to operate on their existing routes without the need for filing an Application for Consolidation but subject to the eventual approval of the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPIRP) or the Route Rationalization Plan (RRP)," the resolution stated.
The region with the most number of routes with low authorized units is Cordillera with 669 routes, followed by Western Visayas with 259 and Calabarzon with 216.
In Central Visayas, 64 routes were approved.
Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide in a statement said the issuance of the order is a discreet admission of the inefficiency of the highly-criticized Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
It also attributed the directive to the continuous efforts of transport workers.
"Ito ang katotohanan: ang mga protesta at welga natin ang nagtulak sa kanila na payagan ang limitadong bilang ng mga unconsolidated na magpatuloy sa byahe," the group said in a statement.
"Napaatras natin nang bahagya ang rehimeng Marcos Jr. Malinaw itong tagumpay ng mga tsuper, operator, at komyuter na tinatapakan ng mga ganid na korporasyong naglalaway na agawin ang ating pampublikong transportasyon. Pero hindi pa tapos ang ating laban. Hindi tayo titigil hangga't hindi natin lubusang nababasura ang negosyo at makadayuhang modernization program," he added.
Transport groups such as Piston and Manibela have conducted various protest actions, urging the government to stop the implementation of the PUVMP.
Under the program, PUV operators were required to operate under a cooperative for the approval of their provisional authority (PA) for franchise.
After the deadline on April 30, the LTFRB said 36,217 PUVs and 2,445 routes failed to comply with the mandatory consolidation policy.
The program also aims to replace jeepneys with vehicles fitted with Euro-4 compliant engines as part of efforts to make an environment-friendly transport system in the country. It costs around P1.5 million to P2.7 million. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)