BY MYLA IGLESIAS and ASHZEL HACHERO
THE Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), through the Land Transportation Office, Metro Manila Development Authority, and the PNP yesterday started apprehending public utility jeepneys (PUJs) that failed to join the consolidation under the government’s PUV modernization program.
After the consolidation deadline lapsed last April 30, the LTFRB and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) gave drivers and operators who failed to consolidate a 15-day grace period, or until May 15.
The LTFRB reminded jeepney drivers and operators who have joined the consolidation program to display their franchise documents on their dashboards or windshields to avoid apprehension.
“Authorities will check the serial numbers on the document issued by the LTFRB displayed on their jeepneys during the operations that started on May 16,” the LTFRB said.
The MMDA, however, said it has yet to apprehend public utility vehicles that have not consolidated, adding the DOTr has yet to provide the guidelines to enforce the LTFRB order.
“We will not yet apprehend unconsolidated PUVs since the DoTr has yet to provide us the guidelines on how to determine who will be apprehended,” the MMDA said.
“We cannot just accost or flag down unconsolidated jeepneys unless they have moving violation(s),” the agency added.
The PNP, meanwhile, said it has not been deputized to make arrests.
The LTFRB said drivers driving unconsolidated jeepneys face a one-year suspension, a P50,000 fine for the operator, and the vehicle to be impounded for 30 days.
The LTFRB earlier said that unconsolidated PUVs would be deemed as “colorum” or illegal and would be apprehended starting May 16.
MMDA chief Romando Artes previously said the recently created Joint Task Force composed of the agency, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the DoTr will also conduct “anti-colorum” operations against jeepney operators and drivers who failed to consolidate.
Out of 191,730 PUVs nationwide, a little over 80 percent have joined the modernization program, with about 60 percent of them in Metro Manila, according to Andy Ortega, DOTr undersecretary for the road sector.
Ortega said the government will monitor the situation to ensure sufficient public transport for commuters.
He added the government will issue special permits that will allow PUVs to operate on routes where additional jeepneys are needed.
After the PUV consolidation, the DOTr’s next priority is to rationalize routes in coordination with Local Government Units (LGUs). This will allow the government to determine the route assignments of each cooperative and the number of PUVs that would be deployed in each route.
Under Department Order No. 2023-002 issued on December 29, 2023, the route rationalization plan involves the identification of public transport supply gaps and the planning of complex route networks.
The DOTr shall be in charge of the inter-provincial routes, inter-regional routes, and inter-zonal under the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integration Study (MMUTIS) and capacity enhancement project (MUSEP) area.
Part of the components of route rationalization are the inventory of existing routes and an inventory of available transport facilities in certain areas.
Ortega said the fleet modernization is expected to be completed in the next four or five years.
