EDITORIAL - Reprieve for PUVs

Jeepney drivers and operators got some reprieve from the government yesterday in the implementation of the public utility vehicle modernization program. With the Dec. 31 deadline for consolidation of public utility vehicles under the PUVMP just around the corner, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board yesterday modified its stand, allowing individual PUV operators to continue plying routes without a consolidated transport service entity or TSE until Jan. 31, 2024.

The one-month grace period was granted by the LTFRB as the Supreme Court still had not issued a temporary restraining order as of yesterday on the implementation of the PUVMP including the Dec. 31 deadline for consolidation or application to consolidate. Instead, the SC ordered the Department of Transportation, mother agency of the LTFRB, to comment on several petitions seeking the TRO prior to stopping the implementation of the PUVMP.

During the one-month grace period, the LTFRB will continue issuing show-cause orders to the PUV operators that have not complied with the modernization program.

While there has been no TRO on the program from the high tribunal, the one-month grace period is an acknowledgment of the insufficiency of public transportation especially in Metro Manila and other densely populated urban centers. The LTFRB acknowledged as much, as it declared in its five-page memorandum circular, which took effect on Dec. 25, that the one-month operation of unconsolidated PUVs in selected routes is needed so as “not to hamper the operation of public transportation routes without consolidated TSE.”

This insufficiency of affordable mass transportation is the reason for the continuing existence of traditional jeepney operations. While these jeepneys provide uncomfortable rides and slow down traffic through frequent stops and long waits for passengers at any point along their route, people find the ride easily accessible and the most affordable – two key considerations for the majority of commuters.

With the arrival of more efficient, comfortable and environment-friendly modern versions of the jeepney, the phaseout of the traditional iconic Filipino public transport at least from