Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday called on the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to allow more buses and jeepneys to ply the National Capital Region (NCR) roads and provincial routes recommended by consultants of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
She added that this can be done even only on a provisional basis, and without derailing the Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program to ensure the safety of commuters.
“A jampacked public transport can be a COVID superspreader. So that it’s about time that the DoTr allows traditional buses and jeepneys to ply their routes as we are expecting more commuters,” Hontiveros said.
The lawmaker’s call comes after Metro Manila finally lifted curfew ordinances due to a decline in COVID-19 cases. The government also allowed the passenger capacity of public utility vehicles (PUVs) to be increased to 70 percent.
Hontiveros stressed that the decline in COVID-19 cases does not mean restrictions could be “relaxed.”
Hontiveros stated that the additional number of PUVs on Metro Manila roads will not only reduce the long lines and waiting time in stations, but can also decrease the number of private cars clogging the streets.
Earlier, she urged DOTr to expand its service contracting program to address the plight of both drivers and commuters amid price hikes in petroleum products.
Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento of Samar, chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation meanwhile raised the need to create a long-term transportation infrastructure roadmap that would depoliticize the funding, implementation, and prioritization of all transportation-related projects.
Sarmiento made the statement as his committee has already approved the proposed House Bill 9468 which seeks to legislate a 30-year National Transportation Program (NTP) dubbed “The Future of Mobility in the Philippines Act.” Sarmiento is the principal author of the measure.
Describing the bill as a “legacy measure,” HB9468 would codify the direction of the country’s transportation infrastructure roadmap and ensure uninterrupted implementation of all projects that are included in the 30-year NTP even with the changing of administrations.
Sarmiento said that by legislating a transportation infrastructure roadmap that spans 30 years (2023-2052), a shift in the political climate can have no effect on the timeline of its implementation, and
“we can ensure that there is continuity” despite a change in the national leadership.
Sarmiento said the measure provides a list of core projects to be implemented between 2023 and 2052 and can only be updated every five years by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in coordination with the Congressional oversight and the implementing agencies.
It may be updated every five years by the NEDA, in coordination with the oversight and implementing agencies.
Among the many projects listed as part of the core plan for road transport are 19 Inter-regional and regional roads and expressways in major road transport corridors of the country and six metropolitan and urban road and expressway systems which includes the North Luzon Expressway
to Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley; the Central Luzon East-West Links for Nueva Ecija-Tarlac and Tarlac-Zambales; South Luzon Expressway to Bicol Region; Luzon Eastern Seaboard Highway; Sta. Ana, Cagayan-Atimonan, Quezon; Dalton Pass East Alignment Alternative Road; Laguna Lake Circumferential Expressway; Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway; Luzon Iconic Bridge Projects for Socioeconomic Development; Panay Expressway; Negros Occidental Expressway; Samar-Leyte Expressway; Mindanao North-South Expressway; Northern Mindanao East-West Expressway; Central Mindanao Expressway; Davao City Coastal Road; Road Network Development Project in Conflict-Affected Areas in Mindanao; inter-island bridges/links for Bataan-Cavite, Batangas-Mindoro, Sorsogon-Samar, Panay-Guimaras-Negros, 4thCebu-Mactan, Cebu-Negros, Samal-Davao City; major RORO systems for Eastern, Central, and Western Networks; the Metropolitan Manila Circumferential 5 Southlink Expressway; Metropolitan Manila Circumferential 6 Expressway; Metropolitan Cebu Expressway; Bohol Bypass Road; Metropolitan Davao Expressway and Metropolitan Manila Logistics Network. With Maricel V. Cruz