The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is considering the possibility of granting another opportunity for unconsolidated public utility jeepney (PUJ) operators to take part in the jeepney modernization program.
"Pagkatapos po naming pumunta sa Senado, napag-usapan po namin na iyong mga hindi pa ho sumasama sa programa ng gobyerno ay bibigyan ho namin ng pagkakataon – they can join existing cooperatives and corporations,” LTFRB Chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said in a media brieding in Malacañang on Monday.
However, this opportunity will not allow them to form a corporation or cooperative. They will only be given a chance to join existing routes that they will service.
Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary Jesus Ferdinand Ortega stated that consolidation is now at 83 percent.
The remaining 17 percent includes both unconsolidated and unregistered PUJ operators, with only five percent classified as unconsolidated.
“To clarify, when we talk about percentage, hundred percent supposedly consolidation and then umabot na po tayo ng 83 percent. So, we have 17 percent," Ortega said.
"But iyong numero po na hindi talaga or ayaw mag-consolidate and we are talking of the groups, that’s more or less mga five percent po iyon,” he added.
Meanwhile, a two-day transport strike led by PISTON and Manibela has commenced to oppose the government’s Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program.
