97% of Metro Manila PUVs consolidated

THE Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) said 97 percent of public utility vehicles (PUVs) in Metro Manila have been consolidated as part of the PUV Modernization Program (PUVMP).

OTC Chairman Andy Ortega also said 76 percent of PUVs nationwide have consolidated.

Citing numbers from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Ortega said around 191,000 PUVs in the country have a franchise, and 146,000 of them have consolidated.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), 22,000 of the 41,000 PUVs with franchises registered for the modernization program in 2023, he said.

Originally, the percentage was around 52 percent until the LTFRB made a recalculation, as out of the 22,000, 21,000 registered.

«If we will base it on the 21,000 franchises that got consolidated and the number that was actually registered in 2022, it's not just 52 percent who registered, based on the register, it came as high as 97 percent,» Ortega said.

He said those were «revealing numbers.»

«If you look at the actual numbers that are plying, comparing it to the time there were transport strikes, it seems that those that were affected were not that big,» Ortega said. «It looks real that those that are traveling are the 22,000 [PUV franchises].»

The LTFRB has been focused on the NCR, but with the new consolidation numbers, the nationwide rate is expected to change.

He earlier said the consolidation deadline was Dec. 31, 2023, but later confirmed that the OTC was still in talks with Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on how the government can help jeepney operators and drivers.

«On the part of the OTC, we would be contacting different transport cooperatives nationwide to help jeepney drivers because they rely on their operators, but their operators did not consolidate, so supposedly their franchises should be obsolete by February 1,» Ortega said.

«We've asked the cooperatives, and they are very much willing to accept jeepney drivers to join cooperatives or corporations so that they can continue with their livelihoods.»

«I hope we will come up with certain improvements, changes, and developments to help those who did not consolidate,» he said.

The traditional jeepneys that have