Former Senator Nikki Coseteng has asked the Department of Transportation to resolve the public transportation problem.
Addressing the Pandesal Forum of the Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City last week, Coseteng, who once chaired the Senate committee on public services that included transportation, alleged that Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade and other officials were oblivious of the repercussions of the erratic transport policies that adversely affected the riding public.
She challenged Tugade to a P2-million bet to take daily public transport in 30 days to determine the magnitude and seriousness of the public transport woes.
Coseteng said legitimate buses that ply their provincial routes are now down to 10 percent of their fleet, creating a demand for illegal vehicles, which have no contribution to the government because they operate as part of the underground economy.
Transport planner Robert Siy and activist Dom Hernandez joined Coseteng in the same forum in assailing the proliferation of an undetermined number of illegal vehicles called “colorums,” and called for public buses to ply EDSA and the routes between Metro Manila and the provinces.
By drastically reducing the number of legitimate buses that ply Metro Manila and the provinces and allowing illegal vehicles to take over the buses’ routes and charge exorbitant fares, the riding public has been suffering, Coseteng said.
Coseteng alleged that law enforcers were arresting legitimate provincial buses along Mindanao Ave. and imposing an “unjust fine of P1 million per bus.” These buses are doing a legitimate business to serve the public and yet they are made to suffer due to the policy to compel buses to use remote central bus terminals with no facilities for passengers and drivers, she said.
Meanwhile, Hernandez, the first nominee of Pasada Party List, said provincial buses should be allowed to drive through EDSA again to ease the transportation problems.
He found an ally in Siy, who stressed the need to use higher-capacity vehicles and public transport in all major roads in preparation for the full economic reopening. Siy is also a part of the Move As One Coalition, a group of “Filipino organizations and individuals advocating for a safer, more humane, and more inclusive public transportation system in the Philippines.”
Siy asked the government to come out with policies that will encourage the public to take public transport, citing that buying and owning cars are not the solution to the transport problems.
Only five percent of all households nationwide have cars, while 8.5 percent have vehicles in Metro Manila, Siy said. The idea of using sidewalks as car park is also not acceptable, he said, because it could lead to other problems.
“The progress and wealth of a country is not determined when the poor have cars but when the rich ride buses,” said Hernandez.
