The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will no longer extend the deadline for the public utility vehicle (PUV) consolidation after the 45-day extension lapsed last week.
An estimated 10,000 PUVs joined the consolidation from October 16 to November 29. The official data will be released by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) this month, said Andy Ortega, DOTr undersecretary for road transport and infrastructure.
Ortega said in an interview at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon there will be no more extension and the PUV modernization program will proceed as scheduled.
The program is now on the route rationalization phase.
The DOTr and the LTFRB are working with local government units (LGU) on the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) which will contain the number of vehicles that will be allowed per route.
The LPTRP is slated to be completed in the next two to three years, Ortega said.
In response to reports that about 8,000 PUV operators withdrew from the program, Ortega said these are considered non-consolidated and will no longer be allowed to register their vehicles as public transportation.
The DOTr is on track to fully implement the program with the scheduled completion of the route rationalization by 2026 and the start of jeepney modernization by 2027.
In a related development, the DOTr called on partner-drivers and merchants of Grab Philippines to ensure safety and security while servicing their clients.
In a statement, DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said safety and security are never compromised in the transportation industry.
To be launched in the first quarter of 2025 is the Grab Asenso Center for its growing ecosystem of drivers, riders and merchant-partners, including those from MOVE IT, its motorcycle taxi platform. Bautista acknowledged Grab’s contribution to the country’s economic growth by providing jobs to Filipinos, noting that Grab’s training and livelihood to its more than 50,000 partner-drivers and merchants helped some of them send their children to school.
