Benitez eyeing transition period in shift to modernized jeepneys

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  • CHERYL G. CRUZ

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez said he will meet with officials of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Land Transportation Office Saturday to discuss the issues and concerns raised by traditional jeepney drivers and operators on the Public Utility Vehicle Moderanization Program (PUVMP).

Benitez said he met with the drivers and operators yesterday and they found common ground with regard the PUVMP. He said they told him that they are not against the program, but their proposals should also be considered, like reducing the cost of the modern unit.

Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez

The Negros Bacolod Transport Coalition said Wednesday that a modernized jeep ranges from P2.4 million to P2.6 million, and this cost is too much and beyond the capability of small operators and drivers to pay.

Other transport groups also appealed to the national government, through the help of Benitez, to allow them to purchase only the Euro IV engine, the one used for modern jeepneys, so that they can assemble their own units, but at lower cost.

Benitez said in a press conference Friday that he told the drivers and operators to submit to him in writing those concerns, for discussion with the LTO and LTFRB on Saturday.

“I told them to list down all those points in writing so that we can proceed with the modernization program,” he added.

He said that, by Monday, they will deliberate and he hopes that a transition period could be agreed on by all concerned, since the two-week reprieve against crackdown granted to drivers and operators of traditional jeeps with expired franchises will lapse on Nov. 23.

The franchises were not renewed by the LTFRB under the PUVMP guidelines, which seeks to replace old PUVs, especially those 15 years old and above, with air-conditioned units powered by more environment-friendly fuels.

At present, Benitez said there are 173 modernized jeepneys operating in Bacolod. He said the city needs about 2,000 units.

The city PIO said that, as of Nov. 10, the LTFRB already awarded 1,046 of the 1,099 modernized PUJs authorized to ply the 24 routes in Bacolod, based on its Local Public Transport Route Plan, in support to the government’s PUVMP.

But Benitez said the PUJs are actually plying 28 routes, and the city may go for the existing routes instead of reducing these to 24./CGC