THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board yesterday said it has already exhausted 80 percent of the P7 billion allotted by the Duterte administration for its nationwide service contracting program, or the “Libreng Sakay” undertaking.
LTFRB Executive Director Maria Kristina Cassion said the funds will be depleted “in the coming days.”
“Eighty percent na ang exhaustion ng ating pondo at tinataya nating mauubos na ito in the coming days (Eighty percent of the funds are already exhausted and we expect this to be depleted in the coming days),” Cassion told the “Laging Handa” public briefing.
Cassion said the fast exhaustion of the funds was due to the triple surge in the number of public utility vehicles (PUV) which enrolled in the program, from the initial 515 units to over 1,600 units at present.
Cassion has said on Tuesday that the free rides in all modes of PUVs under the Libreng Sakay program will end by July 31 this year, and “the Busway will end by July, as well as the Commonwealth Route 7 bus from Montalban to Quezon Avenue.”
Based on data from the LTFRB, 146 public utility jeepney cooperatives and corporations in the National Capital Region (NCR) will stop giving free rides by June 30.
Cassion said 28 of these PUJ cooperatives service what are considered as “high volume, high density” routes.
