The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Monday said it will ask for an additional budget of P1.4 billion from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to finance the free bus rides for commuters until the end of the year.
“If we will continue the free bus rides on the EDSA Carousel until December, we will need an additional budget of about P1.4 billion, which is not available in our existing budget,” Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said Monday.
The previous administration earlier allotted P7 billion for the Libreng Sakay program from the national budget, which ended in June.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier announced the extension of free rides at the EDSA Bus Carousel until the end of 2022.
The DOTr will also implement the Libreng Sakay for Students Program in MRT-3, LRT-2, and the PNR while recommending halting free rides for all other MRT-3 passengers.
Bautista also directed the immediate release of P1,000 fuel subsidy to the target 617,806 qualified tricycle driver-beneficiaries as listed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), full deployment of all 550 buses in the EDSA Busway especially during rush hours, and availability of equity subsidy as down payment for the acquisition of modern public utility vehicles (PUVs) under the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
Bautista is scheduling a meeting with the bus consortium operating the EDSA Carousel route and other concerned government agencies to ensure sufficient deployment of buses to accommodate increased passenger demand due to the coming face-to-face classes.
Bautista also said the government is studying additional routes in preparation for the full resumption of face-to-face classes by September.
“We are also looking at accelerating the grant of franchise instead of just permits for buses on critical routes used by students such as Katipunan, Commonwealth, Recto Avenue,” Bautista said.
The Department of Education (DepEd) estimates that more than 38,000 schools in the country are already set for the resumption of face-to-face classes for the school year 2022-2023.
Bautista said his department is working on pushing fleet rationalization in preparation for the full resumption of face-to-face classes.
Bautista said a team is working on the fleet rationalization study to find out the availability of public utility vehicles (PUV) on certain routes and how to address problems that may pop up.
“The full study on fleet rationalization is not yet complete and we will work closely with them before the start of face-to-face classes. We have to coordinate with a lot of government agencies,” Bautista said.
Earlier, transport advocacy network The Passenger Forum issued a statement saying public transportation in metropolitan areas across the country is not yet prepared for in-person classes, saying the government should first address the infrastructure problems.
Bautista said the agency is coordinating with other government agencies to form an ad hoc committee for the return of students in schools.
“In my visit to the different offices of the DOTr, I told them that they must coordinate not only with people in the same department but also with those in other agencies of the government,” he said.
He said relevant sectoral offices and attached agencies of the DOTr are working on addressing vehicular traffic that may worsen with the return of students to the streets.
“We have to work closely with MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority), PNP (Philippine National Police), AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), and with the Coast Guard so that we can reduce vehicular traffic or to keep it from worsening especially in Metro Manila,” he said.