MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation Road Sector said on Monday it would recommend increasing the passenger capacity of public utility vehicles to the national government's coronavirus task force.
In a statement, the DOTr said its road sector division would study how big such an increase would be until Wednesday before making the recommendation to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Related Stories
“An increase in passenger capacity should be progressive and compliant with the mandates of local governments and the IATF,” transportation secretary Arthur Tugade is quoted as saying.
This comes as quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila are set at a more relaxed Alert Level 3 until the end of October as the COVID-19 situation in the capital region continues to show marked improvement.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier said that public transportation will be "normalized" and operational under all alert levels in the new system.
But as it currently stands, public utility vehicles are still limited to a percentage of their regular operating capacity. Tugade earlier this month ordered all transportation sectors to implement the “one-seat apart” rule in vehicles.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board said it also received a report that there were bus companies not deploying the correct number of buses on the EDSA Busway.
The LTFRB said it would issue a show-cause order on the buses concerned on Monday.
Meanwhile, the DOTr and LTFRB said they wrote to the Department of Energy to "provide suggestions on how to mitigate the impact of continuous oil price increases on the operation of PUVs" including the provision of a fuel subsidy.
On the subject of fare hikes, the DOTr said its road sector "agreed to push for programs that will provide assistance, support and assistance to our drivers and operators, without the need to implement high fares."
"[We need to] balance the needs of drivers with the capabilities of passengers in this pandemic. So instead of [an] across the board increase, the DOTr will push for driver assistance and passenger assistance," Tugade also said. — Franco Luna