If such is the case, the agency should have not issued special permits allowing operators to deploy their units, specifically modern jeepneys, that are outside their registered routes. This could be easily dismissed as a simple reasoning, but there could be truth to it as the agency could have been withholding the whole picture of the region’s state of public transportation.
The issuance of special permits to transport operators is really stating the obvious that there is a problem with the number of PUVs, specifically modern jeepneys.
So it was mind-blogging why the LTFRB 7 decided to revoke the special permits of modern jeepneys last Dec. 1. The agency’s Central Visayas head, Eduardo Montealto Jr., explained that they did it because they wanted to check which route needed additional PUVs.
What kind of reasoning was that? Was there no way for the agency to check the routes without revoking the special permits?
Then on Tuesday, Dec. 6, Montealto announced that they have again allowed some modern jeepneys to travel under special permits following the request of local government units due to the increased number of passengers during this holiday season.
Montealto further said that the issuance of special permits is allowed only because the national state of emergency due to Covid-19 pandemic in the country has yet to be lifted. Then why did the LTFRB 7 revoke the special permits last Dec. 1? On that day, Cebu and the rest of the Philippines were still under a state of emergency.
If LTFRB 7 is really sensitive to people who do not drive motorcycles or four-wheeled cars, then the agency must set a deadline for local government units’ submission of their Local Traffic Route Plan or LPTRP.
Montealto said that an LPTRP is a requirement before more modern jeepneys will be allowed to ply routes.
The LTFRB 7 must flex its muscles to LGUs for the sake of commuters. This must be asked, though: Does the agency really have muscles?