5T taxis now registered under new ID scheme

Cebu - With six days to go before deadline, 5,700 taxi units in Central Visayas have registered under the Taxi Sequence Numbering System, as mandated by the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board.

LTFRB-7 regional director Romulo Bernades said a total of 6,137 units are expected to register under the new scheme, about 4,000 of which are in Cebu.

Bernades said units that will not be registered by January 31 run the risk of being apprehended. First-time offenders will be fined 2,000; the second-time offenders would have their franchises suspended; while third-time offenders would have their franchises cancelled.

Upon registration of the taxi unit with the TSNS, a plate number and franchise number are linked to a four-digit sequence, which are stored in the LTFRB database.

The sequence starts from 0001 and ends in 6137, which is the total number of registered taxi units in Central Visayas.

Taxi operators are required to paint in bright red the four-digit sequence on both sides of the taxi with each digit to be strictly four inches wide and eight inches tall.

With this, passengers would quickly identify the four-digit number instead of remembering the taxi’s plate number, in cases of violations. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/JMO (THE FREEMAN)