LTFRB: 61% jeepney units joined consolidated entity so far

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Friday said out of the 158,000 target jeepney units nationwide, at least 61% have joined a consolidated entity in compliance with the jeepney modernization program.

“Sa mga jeepney out of 158,000 target nationwide, 61% na po ng mga individual units ang nakapagconsolidate na, sa UV [Express units] naman po meron na tayong 72% nationwide,” LTFRB Technical Division chief Joel Bolano said at the public briefing.

(Out of 158,000 jeepney units targeted nationwide, 61% of the individual units have already been consolidated, along with at least 72% UV express units.)

Bolano said joining a consolidated entity is a requirement in applying loans for new units.

“Isa sa basic purpose talaga bakit kailangan nila magkaroon ng consolidated entity or operation ng under consolidated entity dahil magiging sustainable at viable ang kanilang operation sa kanilang mga route kasi magkakaroon sila ng fleet management para sa deployment ng kanilang mga units,” he said.

(One of the basic purposes of requiring jeepney units to be under a consolidated entity is because this will provide them a sustainable and viable operation in their routes and they will have fleet management for the deployment of their units.)

“Yung salary ng ating jeepney drivers ay hindi na siya based on boundary kundi magiging fixed salary based na sila aside from other benefits under the consolidated entity,” he added.

(The salary of our jeepney drivers will no longer be based on boundary, it will be a fixed salary based aside from other benefits under the consolidated entity.)

Bolano also said that traditional jeepney units can still be used as long as it has joined a consolidated entity.

The LTFRB earlier said only the traditional jeeps of operators who are in the process of transitioning into a cooperative or corporation will be exempted from the June 30 deadline.

“So kung sakali po after June 30 mababa 'yung compliance, nakahanda naman po ang LTFRB. In fact, may mga kinacraft na rin pong policy guidance kaya lang po ang tinitignan ni LTFRB 'yung compliance this time until June para isa rin sa basehan ng mga guidelines na ilalabas po before June 30,” he said.

(If the compliance is low after June 30, the LTFRB is already prepared. In fact, we are currently crafting policy guidelines that's why LTFRB is looking at compliance this time until June. That will be one of the basis of the guidelines that will be released before June 30.)

On the opening of the 100,000 transport-network-vehicle-service (TNVS) slots, Bolano said it is still an ongoing discussion and no guidelines yet have been released.

The opening of additional slots will help to address the demand of the commuters, he added.

Meanwhile, Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators sa Pilipinas (LTOP) president Orlando Marquez appealed to the government to provide more fund in the public transport sector.

The LTOP president also appealed for the passage of the Public Transport Consumer Tax.

He said this will fund the public transport modernization to provide commuters a “convenient, safe, and affordable” public transport.

“Sana itong public transport, lalo pang bigyan ng pondo dahil ito po 'yung trabahador na sineserbisyuhan namin, ito po 'yung bumubuhay ng ekonomiya ng ating bansa. Kami po ay nakasuporta sa lahat ng ikagaganda sa ating public transport,” he said at the public briefing on Thursday.

(I hope they will allocate more funds for public transport because the workers that we serve are the ones that support the economy of our country. We support all programs that can innovate our public transport.)—AOL, GMA Integrated News