Looking for solutions?

JUST recently, the transport sector was met by traffic managers of the city and the national government. The meeting was triggered by complaints lodged by franchised public transport operators (taxi, jeepney, motorela) because bao-bao operators have literally invaded their franchise areas.

They referred to bao-bao units that do not have any certificate of public convenience (CPC) or franchise to operate as public transport common carriers. They are right. The LTFRB nor the city government has not issued any such certificate to them.

For one, the LTFRB only issues CPCs to motor vehicles with at least four wheels, while the city government under whose jurisdiction the motorela operation falls has not issued any franchise to bao-bao units.

But is merely prohibiting bao-bao from operating as a common carrier the only solution? I say no. There are possible solutions that we can offer.

One. Issue CPCs to bao-bao operators but such CPCs must be inferior to those issued to motorela operators. By inferior, I refer to the conditions under which bao-bao may be operated.

The bao-bao CPC may limit its operating areas to exclude all numbered barangays. Better still, the areas of operation may be limited to specific barangays only using specific roads, to exclude national roads.

So that bao-bao operators and drivers may be expected to religiously abide by the conditions, passengers who ride bao-bao units that violate their CPC conditions may also be apprehended and fined so that the passengers themselves could help ensure compliance with the CPC conditions.

Two. Extend the operating hours of existing public transport vehicles. bao-bao units literally invade the latter’s operating areas because they stop operating even as the demand for them is still high. Naturally, passengers will avail of any available public transport at night time. It’s a matter of balancing the demand for public transport and the supply of such vehicles.

Three. Taxi units should be allowed to ferry passengers using an LTFRB-approved matrix that charges fare per person so that if there are passengers going in the same direction but are not in the company of one another, they can be ferried at one time instead of taxi units having only one passenger at a time.

And, for the modernized public transport program to take-off faster than it has, it ought to be opened to individual or partnership operators instead of making the program available only to cooperatives or corporations.

Looking for solutions?