THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) yesterday assured bus operators of the government’s “Libreng Sakay” or free rides services in EDSA that it has sufficient funds to finance the project until September this year.
This after the LTFRB said it has paid P310 million to bus operators handling the free rides program.
“So far, the more than P310 million would be sufficient to cover the deficiencies in the meantime, to implement full deployment of buses specially during the rush hour,” said LTFRB chairman Cheloy Garafil.
Garafil said it is now waiting for the approval of the Department of Budget and Management for additional funding to continue the EDSA busway free services until the end of the year, as directed by President Marcos.
The Department of Transportation has earlier said it would need an additional P1.4 billion to sustain the program until December this year.
Garafil said the payment covers past dues for the sixth to 10th week of operation of the EDSA Busway Carousel, which has had an average of 300,000 passengers daily since April.
The free ride service is now on its 15th week.
Of the P310 million, P72 million was paid for the sixth week, P75 million for the seventh week, P72 million for the eighth week, P60 million for the ninth week, and a partial payment of P31 million for the 10th week.
“We just hope they won’t press us so much because we are doing our best to settle the payments,” said Garafil, adding: “We are relying on the word of the consortia operating on the busway that they will keep their word to maximize their deployment.”
Garafil urged asked bus consortiums ES Transport and Mega Manila Consortium Corp. to deploy all their 440 buses specially during rush hours.
ES Transport and Mega Manila Consortium Corp. did not deploy all their buses for the Libreng Sakay program during the rush hours last Monday as they protested the delayed payments to their operators and drivers. They deployed only 200 buses, which forced hundreds of commuters to form long lines at the Edsa Busway Carousel stations along EDSA and wait longer for their rides.
