DOTr ready to implement 75% capacity in public transport vehicles

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is ready to implement the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) proposal to increase to 75% the current public transportation capacity.

NEDA chief Socioeconomic Planning Acting Secretary Karl Chua on Monday proposed to President Rodrigo Duterte placing the whole country under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) and increasing the number of passengers public utility vehicles may carry amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the recommendations have been approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases

MGCQ is the least stringent quarantine classification in the Philippines' response against COVID-19.

The NEDA made the proposal in a bid to revive the economy and reduce hunger in areas still under stringent lockdowns.

Apart from placing the whole country under MGCQ, the NEDA is also proposing the following:

•     increasing the capacity allowed in public transport from 50 percent to 75 percent;

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•     complementing public transport with active transport via bike lanes;
•     allowing more provincial buses to operate;
•     expanding the age groups allowed to leave their homes from 15 to 65, to five to 70; and
•     resuming the pilot-testing of face-to-face classes.

With this, the DOTr said, “We leave the NEDA proposal to the evaluation of the IATF being the primary agency tasked to formulate plans and rules during this period of the pandemic as the country moves forward towards the ‘new normal’.”

“Rest assured that the DOTr will implement whatever decision the IATF and the Cabinet may arrive at regarding the NEDA's proposal while making sure that strict health protocols are observed and enforced in public transport vehicles and facilities to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” it said.

The Philippine economy contracted by 9.5% in 2020, its worst on record since the end of World War II, due to quarantine restrictions to contain COVID-19’s spread that brought economic activities to a standstill.

The NEDA has earlier admitted that the country will continue to see a negative gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2021 since the economic centers such Metro Manila are still under GCQ, wherein several businesses are still closed or operating at a reduced capacity. -NB, GMA News