BY MARY JOY CAVAÑAS
ILOILO City – While the city government’s enhanced Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) prohibits the entry of provincial jeepneys, those from the so-called “first towns” can continue serving their city routes.
On Jan. 2, the city government started implementing its LPTRP which, among others, affirmed the ban on provincial jeepneys.
The provincial government of Iloilo, however, requested for a “status quo” insofar as the provincial jeepneys from the so-called “first towns” is concerned, said Uldarico Garbanzos, chief of the city government’s Traffic Management Unit (TMU).
The “first towns” are the municipalities in Iloilo province that share borders with Iloilo City – Oton, San Miguel, Pavia, and Leganes. As the nearest towns to the city, they have been traditionally transporting provincial passengers to the metro for decades.
Garbanzos said it would have been ideal if the LPTRP of the province of Iloilo is enforced in synchrony with that of the city, but there are still matters that needed to be ironed out with the province’s traffic plan.
The synchronization of the provincial and city transport plans is critical for a unified and effective transport system.
“This alignment is essential to ensure our transport strategies are effectively synchronized,” said Garbanzos in Hiligaynon.
“Discussions are ongoing, and we’re working towards reaching a consensus that benefits all parties,” he added.
The city government decided to push through with implementing its LPTRP as advised by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
The LPTRP identified city routes and designated city-based jeepneys that should serve these.
“According to the LTFRB, it is imperative that we comply with our LPTRP,” said Garbanzos.
He also stressed that only traditional public utility jeepneys consolidated with transport cooperatives – which can be identified by the sticker provided by the city government – are allowed to ply Iloilo City’s 25 routes that the LPTRP identified.
“Those that did not consolidate will not be allowed (to ply the city’s streets), and we will treat them as colorum (franchise-less),” said Garbanzos.
The city government conducted a “ceremonial stickering” on Dec. 30, 2023.
As of this writing, close to 200 of the 1,262 consolidated traditional jeepneys have stickers, while those with no stickers have documents as proof of being members of a cooperative.
The sticker contains the plate number of the jeepneys coming from the LTFRB, as submitted by their respective transport cooperatives, and a control number.
Garbanzos said the Land Transportation Office is conducting a random inspection to check the stickers while his office will create two teams to join the inspection.
The consolidated traditional jeepneys will continue to serve the identified routes until the 1,782 modernized jeepneys granted franchise under the LPTRP are already available.
Around 500 modernized jeepneys are already serving their routes in the city. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
