Transport coops finding shift to pricey modern jeeps difficult

Transport cooperatives are finding it difficult to shift to modern jeepneys as they can only buy a limited number of the expensive modern units, Oscar Oida reported Friday on “24 Oras.”

Several jeepney drivers thus appealed to the government to give them more time to shift to modern jeepneys.

“Sana bigyan pa rin kami ng gobyerno ng mahabang span of time para ma-attain namin yung full modernization jeep,” jeepney driver Jun Maulion said.

(We are hoping that the government can give us a longer period to attain full modernization.)

A transport cooperative explained that they could only purchase 10 units of the modern jeepneys, not enough to go around for all their drivers to make a living.

“Marami pong mga driver ang mawawalan ng trabaho kasi kahit i-divide natin ng 24 hours po hindi magkakasya sa kanila yung sampu na yan,” said Commonwealth Transport Development Cooperative Chairman Gilbert Batang.

“P2.4 million po bawat isa po so baon na baon po kami sa utang ngayon. Napakahirap po talaga. Hindi namin kung paano babayaran agad,” he added.

(Each unit costs P2.4 million, so we are buried in debt. It's difficult. We don't know how we can quickly pay for these.)

For some jeepney drivers, just joining a transport cooperative is difficult as membership costs P40,000.

“Saan naman tayo kukuha ng ano dyan eh tamang tama lang yung kinikita namin sa araw araw para sa pamilya namin, minsan kulang pa,” a jeepney driver said.

(Where are we going to find the money for this? We just earn enough to get by a day at a time. Sometimes our earnings aren't even enough for that.)

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), for its part, said jeepney drivers had earlier agreed to the jeepney modernization.

“During that time nag-commit naman sila na that they will modernize dahil aminado naman po tayo na itong traditional jeepney po natin ay hindi na po angkop on matters of road safety,” LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said.

(During that time, they committed to modernizing because we have to admit that traditional jeeps are not suitable when it comes to matters of road safety.)

The LTFRB was also confident that Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Luzon would be ready for the scheduled modernization implementation - March 30 in the provinces and April 30 in Metro Manila.

The LTFRB said they were still studying if the franchises of the traditional jeepneys would be extended. — Richa Noriega/DVM, GMA Integrated News