PUVs yet to consolidate get ‘warning’ up to May 15
Operators and drivers of unconsolidated public utility vehicles (PUVs) will merely be issued “warnings” during the period of May 1 to May 15, even after the April 30 final deadline on their consolidation with transport cooperatives, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said.LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III cited the need to give these PUV operators and drivers “due process,” in accordance with the Public Service Act (Commonwealth Act No. 146), the law on the regulation of all public utilities including public transportation..
“We cannot revoke their franchises until we have heard their explanation. But we can easily resolve these cases. After [May 15, if] these colorum (illegal) vehicles still continue to ply on the road, we will impound them in Tarlac and Pampanga,” Guadiz said in an online press conference on Tuesday.
These operators and drivers will also be fined and they could face imprisonment of up to six years, he said. The fine for jeepneys is P50,000, and for vans, P200,000.
But the LTFRB has already issued show-cause orders to unconsolidated PUVs as early as Monday.
There were random inspections on major roads, particularly in Metro Manila, to check if PUV drivers had documents showing their membership in a cooperative. The LTFRB also issued stickers to mark consolidated PUVs.
“We cannot apprehend every single colorum PUV. But even if we are able to only flag down 10 colorum PUVs per day, that will make a big difference,” Guadiz said.
Consolidation rate
According to the LTFRB, a total of 150,179 PUVs have been consolidated with 1,715 cooperatives and 1,088 corporations as of April 23.
Based on those figures, the consolidation rate is now 78.33 percent of the 191,730 PUVs nationwide, compared with the 76 percent recorded in January.
Guadiz said he was “very much confident” that the consolidation rate could reach 80 to 82 percent, citing the applications by PUV operators since Monday, especially in Metro Manila, Cebu City and Davao City.
The National Capital Region still had the lowest consolidation rate in the country at 57.7 percent as of Monday. But this was up from 54 percent in December. INQ
