A jeepney terminal in Cebu City.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Drivers and operators of public utility vehicles (PUVs) will get P5,000 financial aid and discount cards starting next week.
Councilor James Cuenco, chairperson of the committee on transportation, said the city government would provide the assistance as a counterpart to that of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
The LTFRB is providing financial assistance to jeepney operators under the Pantawid Pasada program amounting to more or less P6,500 per tranche.
Cuenco said that the financial assistance should provide a breather for the PUV operators suffering under the current economic situation with the unpredictable rise and fall of the price of oil.
“The city government is also giving directly a counterpart to lessen the impact of fuel price increase,” said the councilor.
The committee on transportation already has the number of PUVs that ply the city streets and will be qualified to get the P5,000 financial aid.
Moreover, the city is also distributing discount cards to 4,000 PUVs that would provide a P3 discount per liter of fuel in selected gasoline stations.
These gasoline stations have made a deal with the city government to provide fuel in bulk for the planned South Road Properties (SRP) fuel depot, and they have agreed to provide a discount for PUVs as well.
Each PUV can use the discount for up to 20 liter per day.
The distribution will be announced in the coming days, but Cuenco hopes that this will alleviate the struggles of the transportation sector with the rising price of oil.
This will also give them an incentive to ply the streets thereby increasing the PUVs in the city.
Cuenco said with the lifting of major restrictions, would mean the return of workers to the work site, which also meant more movement and more commuters.
“Dili gyod enough atong public transport. Kuwang gihapon kay daghan namalik sa trabaho. In fact, we encourage the orders of modernized jeepneys to be fast-tracked,” said Cuenco.
(Our public transport is not enough. It is still lacking because many have returned to work. In fact, we encourage the orders of modernized jeepneys to be fast-tracked.)
He said that the traditional jeepneys plying the streets most likely will not increase anymore because the remaining jeepneys are run-down and would not pass the Land Transportation Office (LTO) viability test.
For now, the city government will be negotiating with bus liners for free rides again for workers in the city.
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