The government will no longer allow bus drivers with numerous traffic violations to ply the roads of Metro Manila beginning Monday (March 9).
City bus owners and operators agreed to this following Tuesday’s meeting with officials of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and representatives from the Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
“We are serious about this matter. It’s about time to suspend erring drivers with alarming number of apprehensions,” said MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. who initiated the meeting at the agency’s main office in Makati City where they discussed appropriate actions to be taken against public utility bus drivers who are habitual traffic violators.
“A representative from LTO will join our personnel at our Bus Management Dispatch offices to screen city bus drivers. They will not be dispatched if they are included in the list of habitual violators. Their driver’s license will be confiscated by LTO as MMDA is not allowed to do so,” said Garcia.
The MMDA have Bus Management Dispatch offices at various locations like Baclaran, Alabang, Navotas, Valenzuela, and Fairview, among others.
Last month, the MMDA submitted a total of 12,000 names of drivers with multiple violations, of which 2,500 drivers answered the show cause orders issued to them by the LTO.
“We asked the bus operators to cooperate and they are willing to have their drivers undergo a retraining program. We need to strictly enforce this and we want them off the road,” Garcia stressed.
Under Republic Act 4136, also known as the Land Transportation and Traffic Code of the Philippines, a driver who commits at least three times of same violations during a 12-month period may face automatic suspension of his/her driver’s license for at least one to two years.
Other officials present during the press conference are Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group Traffic Enforcement Unit Chief Col. Emmanuel Tabuena and LTO Law Enforcement Deputy Director Roberto Valera. It was also attended by representatives of city bus operators such as Pamana Transport and Samahang Transport Operators ng Pilipinas Inc.
Last november, the MMDA revealed that a bus driver committed 533 violations since the time of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Among the violations committed by the unnamed PUB driver were obstruction, disregarding traffic sign, loading/unloading, yellow lane, and open door.
