ILOILO City – The morning rush hours between 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. yesterday became doubly difficult for city-bound commuters. The insufficient number of city loop jeepneys that would take them to the city meant many got stuck in the transport terminals much longer than they had anticipated. As a result many reached their workplaces late.
Mayor Jerry Treñas apologized for the inconvenience and appealed for understanding. But he is not keen on right away suspending the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) that prohibits provincial jeepneys from taking commuters to the city.
The lack of city loop jeepneys will be addressed, hopefully today. The city government’s Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) chief, Jeck Conlu, said more city loop jeepneys would be deployed to the transport terminals in Ungka (Jaro), Tagbak (Jaro), Mohon (Arevalo), and the Festive Walk Transport Terminal (Mandurriao) to haul city-bound commuters from there.
Under the LPTRP, modernized jeepneys should be doing this job. But only 77 modernized jeepneys have so far been delivered to transport cooperatives here, thus 1,767 traditional jeepneys were authorized to continue plying the city’s streets.
Conlu, however, admitted that not all these 1,767 traditional jeepneys operated yesterday – the second day of LPTRP’s implementation. This was because their special permits / provisional authority to operate got stuck in the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
Treñas said he already talked to LTFRB regional director Richard Osmeña about this.
Conlu said city loop jeepneys at the Mohon and Tagbak terminals were not sufficient yesterday.
Commuters that got stuck at the Mohon terminal were from the southern towns of Iloilo province and from Antique province.
Those at the Tagbak terminal, on the other hand, were from all the towns north of Iloilo City (Leganes, Zarraga, Passi City, 4th District towns, 5th District towns) and commuters from the provinces of Capiz and Aklan.
The LPTRP authorized 69 city loop jeepneys to haul city-bound commuters from the Mohon terminal, and 232 jeepneys for the Tagbak terminal. Conlu, however, admitted fewer jeepneys than these operated yesterday.
He thus recommended an additional 100 more city loop jeepneys for these two terminals, hopefully beginning today, barring hitches in the issuance of their special permits / provisional authority to operate by the LTFRB.
For the two other terminals, the Ungka Terminal and Festive Walk Transport Terminal, he recommended additional 50 city loop jeepney units each.
Where will the city government get these additional jeepney units?
Conlu said these would be taken from old city routes with “excess” units.
According to Mayor Treñas, the city government is open to making adjustments to the LPTRP.
“All options are on the table. If the situation is so chaotic and will not result in (a) better transport system, I do not see any reason why we should not revise it to make it more responsive to the needs of our commuters,” Treñas said.
Aside from the lack of sufficient jeepneys to transport commuters from the terminals, he also noticed the absence of tarpaulins to guide people about the new routes and which city loop jeepneys to board in going to their desired destination in the city.
Treñas assured the public that the city government is taking note of all the complaints, observations and suggestions. Yesterday afternoon, he went around inspecting the transport terminals.
For his part, Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. took time to check the situation in the terminals, particularly in Tagbak and Mohon yesterday morning.
The inconveniences encountered were not unexpected, Defensor said, “because this is the first time” the LPTRP is being implemented.
Conlu said the critical hours are between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. when there is a surge in the volume of provincial commuters disembarking at the transport terminals.
Yesterday, he said, the terminals became manageable after 9 a.m./PN
