Cebu City will still require the wearing of face shields inside public transport despite its decision to remove the plastic barriers inside PUVs. | CDN file
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City will be employing a gradual increase in the capacity for public utility vehicles (PUVs) as plastic barriers are no longer necessary in public transport.
Yet it will be keeping the face shield requirement for passengers until the COVID-19 situation has improved.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has already allowed PUVs to remove the plastic barriers and increase the capacity to 70 percent.
The Cebu City Council’s transportation committee has recommended to Acting Mayor Michael Rama to include this policy in city PUVs too.
However, the city government will not be removing face shields as requirements for passengers of PUVs because the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has requested that the face shields remain.
Councilor James Cuenco, the chairperson for the committee on transportation, said the EOC recommended that face shields be removed only when herd immunity has been achieved in the city.
The target population for herd immunity in Cebu City is 700,000 individuals, and currently, the total vaccinated individuals are still over 400,000.
“We are also recommending that we increase the capacity gradually from 70 percent to 100 percent depending on the situation on the ground, on our COVID-19 cases,” said Cuenco.
For every two weeks, the capacity can be increased by 5 percent or one passenger for the PUV until 100 percent is achieved.
Cuenco said this is the best way so that the city can easily make adjustments once the cases once again rise.
In a few months, Cuenco said that capacity of the PUVs would eventually reach 100 percent, thereby increasing the public transportation capacity, and hopefully meeting the demand for public transport.
The committee on transportation urges the PUVs to follow this system and maintain the health protocols despite the removal of the plastic barriers. /rcg
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