Amid a planned transport strike today, the Quezon City government will mobilize all its emergency response vehicles to help ferry stranded commuters during rush hours.
Mayor Herbert Bautista tasked Karl Michael Marasigan, chief of the Quezon City Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office, to provide free transportation just in case the planned strike pushes through.
“All QCDRRMC buses and barangay emergency response team vehicles are hereby directed to be deployed to conduct Oplan: Libreng Sakay within your areas of responsibility,” Bautista said.
The “Libreng Sakay” operation will roll out during rush hours from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The transport group Stop and Go Coalition said its members will halt their operations nationwide on Feb. 6 to protest the Department of Transportation’s proposed phaseout of old jeepneys.
Based on the records of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Stop and Go has 200 units in Metro Manila and 200 more in the provinces.
Other jeepney groups—the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytors Nationwide, Pasang Masda, Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association, Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization, Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, and Liga ng mga Tsuper at Operator sa Pilipinas said they are not joining the strike.