DOTr chief gives verbal OK to PUJ request — Gwen

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia (right) holds a press briefing in Barili town in southern Cebu on Monday, July 20, 2020. | contributed photo

BARILI, Cebu — Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said Transportation or (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade had given his verbal agreement to her request that traditional public utility jeepneys be allowed to return to their routes within Cebu province.

Garcia, in a press conference, said she made a call to Tugade at noon this Monday, July 20, to relay the request to allow the jeepneys back on their routes provided that they would pass the road worthiness inspection that would be conducted by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

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Garcia told drivers and operators to wait for the guidelines from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) yet before plying their routes.

Locally, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) has allowed traditional jeeps to ply to feeder routes.

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Colonel Eduardo Montealto, LTFRB-7 director, told CDN Digital via phone that they had not issued any special permit to operate (SPO) for the PUJs to ply the feeder routes yet.

Montealto said they had also not received any application for the Special Permit to Operate yet, but the jeepney operators might still be preparing the partitions in their vehicles or complying with requisites of the SPO. 

Aside from the roadworthiness inspection, the traditional jeep operators will also need to secure the endorsement of their local government units as the latter will be the one to assign the feeder routes./dbs