The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) will no longer allow 15-year-old school transport services like buses, vans and jeepneys to ply the streets starting this year.
Reynaldo Elnar, assistant regional director for LTFRB-7, said this is for road worthiness purposes and to ensure safety of the students on board.
“Phased out units will no longer be used for public transport. Instead, it can be for private use only. If they have an existing franchise (for school transport), they need to replace it with brand new units,” he told Cebu Daily News.
In Cebu, thirty percent out of 400 units will be phased out this year. Any brand new models can replace the old ones.
“Supposedly, the implementation should have started last year, but an amnesty was issued by the government to extend until this year for operators to prepare more in replacing the old units,” he added.
Phased out units will be identified through its certificate of registration. LTFRB will be strict in checking the certificate of registration of the school transport service units, he added.
“Those old units will no longer be given any authorization to ply out as public transportation,” he told CDN.
“If they would still use these phased out units, then they would be charged colorum under Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 2014-01,” he said
Higher penalties await law violators. It will be P1 million for school bus types, P200,000 for school vans and P50,000 for jeepneys.