PUVs may soon access CCLEX if proposal gets LTFRB nod

Commuters on PUVs may soon access the CCLEX if the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board okays a pending proposal for this effect. | Contributed Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) may soon pass the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) if the proposal to come up with new routes utilizing the longest bridge in the country gets the nod of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board ( LTFRB).

In a press conference on Thursday, April 27, 2023, Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC) president and general manager Allan Alfon divulged that they are helping lobby LTFRB 7 the possibility in the future to allow PUVs to use the expressway through the opening of new routes.

The Municipality of Cordova passed last January 23, 2023, a resolution authored by Councilor Lemuel Pogoy, requesting the LTFRB 7 to open routes for PUVs to pass the CCLEX.

“The council felt the need to open new PUV routes as it will provide alternative routes to public commuters, ease traffic congestion, and likewise help the economy,” reads a portion of the council’s resolution.

The council, specifically, proposes the following routes:

a. Naga City to Mactan Cebu International Airport via CCLEX (public utility buses)
b. Lapu Lapu City to Fuente Osmeña via CCLEX (modern PUJs) and
c. Cordova to SM Seaside via CCLEX (UV Express)

In a phone interview, LTFRB 7 director Eduardo Montealto, Jr., however, said that even before the resolution proposed by Cordova Council, LTFRB 7 already had plans to open PUV routes for CCLEX.

As part of its experimental implementation, 15 modern PUV units and buses would be deployed for each of the proposed PUV routes passing CCLEX.

“Ang ilang (Cordova LGU’s) LPTRP (Local Public Transport Route Plan) pwede na butangan (og additional routes, including PUV for CCLEX) after six months sa implementation kay kuan man tong ila, ‘special notice of compliance,’ kay wala man silay intra-municipality nga rota. So, karon, giinclude na namo didto sa Province (nga LPTRP),” he told CDN Digital.

Once the LPTRP of Cebu Province will be approved, the LTFRB 7 will issue the Notice of Compliance to the Cebu Province, which is a prerequisite for the Cordova LGU to enact an ordinance for the new PUV routes passing CCLEX.

Once an ordinance is passed, that’s the time the LTFRB 7 would issue a memorandum circular for the selection process of PUV operators that would want to ply the CCLEX routes.

As of now, he said, Cebu Province’s LPTRP is already 96 percent complete.   /rcg

READ:

CCLEX turns 1; Cebu City, Cordova receive share of tollway bridge’s income

LTFRB: Free ride for health workers, APORs to continue until June 30

CCLEX hastens post-COVID growth, recovery of Central Visayas region—study