This scene minus the passenger jeepneys will be the common sight on Monday in Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu cities as most jeepney drivers in these areas will join the nationwide transport strike on that day.
CDN FILE PHOTO
TWO buses and at least four trucks will ferry stranded commuters in Lapu-Lapu City on Monday, when local jeepney drivers will join the nationwide transport strike to protest the phasing out of 15-year-old jeepneys.
These vehicles will wait at the Lapu-Lapu City transport terminals to ferry the passengers to the Parkmall terminal in Mandaue City, said Andy Berame, Lapu-Lapu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office head, in an interview yesterday.
Berame announced the city’s preparations for Monday’s planned strike as Mandaue and Cebu cities earlier also announced their actions to help commuters who would be affected by the transport strike.
Berame said they already had a plan on how to ferry the stranded passengers since he already asked the local counterpart of the Piston (Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide) in the city if they would join the Piston’s tigil pasada today.
Piston, which has at least 700 members in Cebu, is leading today’s nationwide transport strike that starts at 4 a.m. and ends in 3 p.m.
Berame said he asked the local transport groups including Piston members because he did not want to be caught flatfooted like the last transport strike when the drivers did not inform them of their strike, causing the stranding of hundreds of passengers in Lapu-Lapu City.
The city is home to the Mactan Export Processing Zones, which employ thousands of workers.
Aside from that, there are also several students living in Lapu-Lapu City who go to school in Mandaue or Cebu cities and employees who work in Mandaue and Cebu cities.
Berame said at least 200 jeepney drivers plying the Mandaue–Lapu-Lapu routes would join the strike.
He said that they would be focusing their vehicles on these commuters.
Berame added that they only transport passengers up to Parkmall in Mandaue City and from Parkmall in Mandaue City and back to the terminals in Lapu-Lapu City.
Each vehicle will also be accompanied by police escorts for the security of each trip from unruly transport groups.
Stranded passengers in Lapu-Lapu City will only be picked up at PUJ or V-Hire terminals and will be transported for free to Mandaue City.
He, however, encouraged commuters to take the ferry boat direct to Cebu City area if they had nothing to do in Mandaue City or in northern Cebu areas.
Earlier, Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) operations chief Glenn Antigua, said that they would put vehicles on standby in designated areas that could transport passengers in Mandaue City.
Nagiel Bañacia, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office head, said in a dyAB report that they too had already put vehicles on standby to ferry stranded passengers in the city.