THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Friday ordered its regional directors to complete the distribution of tricycle license plates by April 30.
LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II directed the regional directors to ensure that all tricycles’ license plates, particularly those being used in public transportation, are delivered by April 30.
The directive came after the inventory of the printed license plates showed these were sufficient to cover all the tricycles across the country, and that the only challenge that remains is how to deliver them to the rightful owners.
Mendoza said they are confident that they could be able to finish the plate distribution amid the significant improvement in the license plate printing process since last year.
“This is part of our catch-up plan to distribute license plates. As we have committed before, we are doing everything in our power to speed up the printing and we are happy to inform the public that we were able to achieve it and right now, the challenge is to distribute them to the owners,” he said.
He instructed concerned directors to craft and submit their plan on how they intend to distribute the license plates in their general area of responsibility. The officials are given until Jan. 27 to submit their distribution plan in a bid to guide them in the implementation period based on past experiences.
The LTO chief cited the need for coordination with the local government units to ensure the success of the program.
“Ever since, the local government units have played a significant role in the distribution of the license plates. Even the barangay officials are always willing to assist, all that we need is to coordinate them properly,” Mendoza said.
The distribution of the license plates for tricycles is part of the effort of the LTO to address the backlog on motorcycle plates by July. The backlog of license plates for trikes was already addressed as early as January last year.
Mendoza highlighted the importance of the tricycles having their legitimate license plates as part of the solution to the problem of colorum tricycles in every town and city.
He lauded the Quezon City government’s cooperation in the distribution of license plates to all tricycle operators and drivers’ associations, saying their daily earnings significantly have improved as colorum tricycles were already wiped out.
“We want to replicate this good practice in Quezon City to the rest of the country. With the help of the local government unit, we will not only address the backlog but also the problem on colorum tricycles,” he noted.