The Department of Transportation-Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (DOTr-LTFRB) reaffirmed the support of the government for operators in the Visayas in the implementation of the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).
This was emphasized by LTFRB central office chief transportation development officer Joel Bolano when he presented the program updates during the Visayas PTMP Summit and the Philippine Commercial Vehicle Show at the L’ Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City on Wednesday.
“In Region 6, Bacolod, specifically, is one of the places with many modern units. There are 600 modern units in Bacolod alone,” he added.
Bolano noted that the city’s 600 modern units are among the 11,547 operational and omnibus franchising guidelines-compliant units nationwide.
Of the 191,730 public utility vehicles in the country, a total of 159,682, or 83.38 percent, have already been consolidated under the PTMP as of April 30 this year.
Bolano said that in the implementation of the PTMP, the government is extending regulatory and institutional support to modern jeepney operators.
These are the increase in the equity subsidy for acquiring modern units, adjustment on the maximum distance policy for some areas to improve viability, the enhanced process of the Local Public Transportation Route Plan evaluation and approval, and a more transparent operator selection process.
Also included are the implementation of the transfer plan for affected operators and transport service entities service and revised guidelines for issuing a certificate of compliance for modern public utility vehicle models.
Part of the stakeholder support mechanism is for social support, particularly the Tsuper Iskolar, wherein 42,214 beneficiaries received free training assistance, and the Entsuperneur, which provided livelihood assistance to 11,381 beneficiaries nationwide.*PNA