ILOILO City – After six months of delays, modern jeepneys of the Iloilo City Alliance of Operators and Drivers Transport Cooperative (ICAODTC) will finally be operating. The minimum fare is P10.20 for the first four kilometers plus an additional P1.20 for every succeeding kilometer.
Beginning Thursday, Nov. 28, an initial seven air-conditioned units will serve the “Ungka-ITGSI-Iloilo City via CPU” route. This is from the Iloilo Terminal and General Services, Inc. (ITGSI) terminal in Barangay Ungka, Jaro district to the City Proper passing by Central Philippine University.
ICAODTC launched its modern jeepneys on May 8 and announced that 12 units would start operating after a week. But this did not materialize.
There were hitches that included the slow completion of the ICAODTC garage and the transfer to the cooperative of the certificates of registration (CR) and official receipts (OR) of their old jeepney units required by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
According to Rizal Alido, board secretary of ICAODTC, their modern jeepneys will start picking up passengers at the ITGSI terminal.
A total of 28 units were approved by the LTFRB to serve the “Ungka-ITGSI-Iloilo City via CPU” route but 21 units were still being installed with stickers, said Alido yesterday.
It was LTFRB, too, which determined the fare rate, he added.
ICAODTC modern jeepneys would be using the Automatic Fare Collection System (tap cards) in the near future, said Alido, but for now “passenger assistance officers” would be collecting the fare from passengers.
The infrastructure for the AFCS is not yet in place, explained Alido.
This Thursday at 7 a.m., there would be a ceremonial “take off” of the modern jeepneys at the ITGSI Terminal. Officials from LTFRB, Land Transportation Office, Development Bank of the Philippines, and the city government have been invited to attend.
After a week, an additional eight units would be mobilized and the remaining 13 units would be deployed after another week.
According to Alido, the LTFRB has allowed ICAODTC to serve three more routes and operate a total of 104 modern jeepney units.
The three additional routes are Villa Baybay, Ungka-ITGSI via Diversion and Jaro Plaza-Manduriao but Alido could not yet ascertain when their modern jeepneys would start serving these routes.
“Our transportation is leveling up, just as what our mayor (Jerry Treñas) wants for our city,” he stressed.
The government’s move to modernize Philippine public transport aims to minimize air pollution and improve public transport safety. Most jeepneys are not compliant with smoke emission standards, according to the LTFRB.
ICAODTC will start mobilizing its modern jeepneys a week after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced it would not push through with the total phase out of jeepneys 15 years old and older starting July 2020.
A unit of modern jeepney costs P2,040,000, said Alido.
Each unit can host 25 passengers.
ICAODTC is the first Iloilo City transport cooperative registered with the Cooperative Development Authority and approved by the Office of Transportation Cooperatives under the DOTr on August 2018./PN
