Transport group: Oil price hike, commuter lines, congested roads require pro-people solutions
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:05 p.m.) — A transport group said Monday that increasing Metro Manila commuter woes stress that need for the government to immediately fix the highly inefficient mass transport problems in the country — from the volatile price of fuel in the country to congested commuter lines and insufficient public transport.
Fuel prices are expected to increase on Tuesday with diesel prices getting an estimated P2 per liter increase after weeks of rollbacks. This comes on top of record-high inflation, a crisis in road transport supply, worsening poverty and a lack of government assistance to poor Filipino families.
Ahead of the holidays, tales of commuter woe are once again a common subject on social media as Filipinos head back to their home provinces.
In a statement sent to media Monday morning, transport group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide or Piston said that the Marcos Jr. administration should start looking into "pro-people solutions" to ease the socioeconomic crisis’s effects on ordinary Filipinos’ lives.
Piston national president Mody Floranda stressed that rather than waiting for international oil prices to plunge, the government should assert its regulatory authority over the local price of fuel by certifying as urgent the House Bill 400 or the “lowering the price of oil and other petroleum products” bill filed by Makabayan bloc.
"If Congress was able to pass the dubious Maharlika Fund in just 17 days just because Marcos Jr. pushed it, why is it taking them so long to pass more significant laws that will ease the public's expenses? This administration needs to adjust their priorities," Floranda said in Filipino.
With more industries shifting back to on-site work and students trooping back to face-to-face classes in schools, transport groups have said that the public utility vehicles going out of business due to skyrocketing oil prices have only exposed the commuter crisis that ultimately went unsolved over the two years of the coronavirus pandemic.
Solving transport crisis requires more than rail, infra
The National Economic and Development Authority has said that the Marcos administration’s solution to the transport crisis is developing more railways in various areas including the Metro Manila Subway project which they believe will help steer development to so-called “lagging” regions outside NCR.
Commuter groups have long called the transport crisis an issue of supply, which the Marcos administration's Libreng Sakay program did little to alleviate.
Piston said that while expansive mass transport projects can provide faster trips across longer distances, most Filipino commuters — especially low-income Filipinos — still rely on jeepneys as affordable mode of transportation for short distances or the first or last miles.
"That's why the government should also strengthen our small-capacity PUVs like jeepneys," said Floranda.
"Instead of phasing out and laying off thousands of drivers and operators to replace them with very expensive imported mini-buses run by corporations, the proper implementation of PUV Modernization is to strengthen our local manufacturing to -rehabilitate jeepneys to be cleaner and more comfortable. That way, small operators will be cheaper than if they were forced to go into debt to buy imported mini-buses, and the local industry will be supported which will result in more jobs for Filipino workers.”
Piston also questioned the economic and development returns of the administration's big-ticket infrastructure projects given the huge foreign debt taken out to build them.
The group said that in the context of the worsening transport crisis, large-scale infrastructure projects are less urgent than adding more PUVs on the road, increasing their routes to service more commuters, supporting PUV drivers and small operators, implementing a genuine and pro-people modernization program that doesn’t displace drivers and small operators, and reducing the volume of private vehicles in the most congested streets.
"The government needs to get down to the level of the people so they can see where the problem really is. Filipinos cannot just wait for six to ten years for new railways when the condition of our commuters and drivers on the road is getting worse and worse every year," said Floranda.
Commuters welcome confirmation of transport chief
In a statement issued later Monday afternoon, commuter group Move Metro Manila welcomed the confirmation of Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista by the Commission on Appointments last week.
"We think that Secretary Bautista is in the right direction in addressing the transportation crisis in the road sector brought about by limited supply of public utility vehicles and high fuel costs," it said.
Move Metro Manila also recommended looking into airport buses, which it said would "transfer passengers more efficiently and at more affordable rates, and will greatly improve vehicular traffic in the airport vicinity."
"We are hopeful about Bautista’s no-nonsense response to public sentiments about the current transport crisis. While commendable for his agency’s quick response to Mr. Atom Araullo’s public outcry, we hope that he and his leadership can consider looking into current applications for airport bus services pending at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board."
But the group said that while it supported big ticket projects like the Metro Manila Subway project and the North-South Commuter Railway, it "hopes that the Department will prioritize policies and programs that can be immediately implemented within the coming days to ease the daily difficulties of the commuters especially now during holiday seasons."
It also commended efforts to optimize the Service Contracting Program and make the latter "more responsive to commuter needs, with the extension of the EDSA Busway service hours 24/7 during this holiday season."
"Bautista’s plan to expand and extend public utility vehicles-only lanes like the one on EDSA, is a strong statement of support to public transport commuters," Move Metro Manila said.
"These kinds of programs prioritize 88% of our road users, and signal a regime change in DOTr, aligned with the National Transport Policy. We are ready to support him in changing mindsets about road use, especially in convincing other government leaders to make this big shift to prioritize public and active transport."
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