It’s been a rough two straight days for Cebu City commuters.
On Sunday, they endured unusual traffic congestion in the Green Loop road sharing scheme in four roads.
On Monday, it was a jeepney shortage led by the militant transport group Piston.
While Green Loop organizers at least had the grace to inform the riding public weeks ahead about the four-hour experiment, the PUJ protest was a bolt out of the blue.
Even the Piston central office in Manila said they didn’t know about any transport strike for Cebu yesterday. Media outlets learned late in the day that a local protest was afoot in Cebu.
Whether the intention was to stage a “holiday” on the streets or just hold a non-disruptive march to transport offices, the protest action didn’t cripple public transportation.
City Halls in Metro Cebu had contingency measures and met quicily to prepare standby buses and government vehicles .
In the end, the disruption on the road was minimal and several local governments didn’t have to field their buses.
The bone of contention remains the heat on PUJ and bus operators and drivers to follow a new Administrative Order imposing heavier penalties on violators of transport and traffic regulations.
On top of that is Cebu City’s aggressive crack down on erring public utility drivers.
Without any sort of accountability check on their part, let alone a written promise to police their own ranks, these protestors would want the riding public to let them be and run their business as they see fit with less regulations to confine them.
We don’t buy the explanation that drivers have been battered with enough oil price increases and expensive spare parts that they have to make ends meet by any means possible, including loading and unloading passengers at any point in the road, beating red lights, operating colorum units and ignoring Citom enforcers.
The riding public has suffered all those economic pressures as well, and even more from near-chaotic road conditions brought about by drivers who don’t follow rules.
By staging a mass action that deprives the public of fare-based rides to work, school and appointments, they only antagonize the public further.
If they want sympahty for their plight, let them do a better job of following traffic rules and disciplining their ranks.
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