MANILA, Philippines — Urban mobility advocates monitoring the first few days of the new Department of Transportation leadership said that Secretary Jaime Bautista was so far "paying attention to the right things" in tackling the transportation crisis left by the former leadership.
This comes after Bautista joined commuters in an MRT ride, and took notice of the long commuter queues and other improvements that the MRT management could work on, adding that he plans to do another commute on buses and jeepneys, together with LTFRB Chair lawyer Cheloy Garafil.
Related Stories
"Bautista's commitment to provide accessible, affordable, comfortable, and safe transport service is reassuring," said Move Metro Manila's convenor Dr. Grace Gorospe-Jamon in a joint statement sent to reporters.
"He is practically resetting the agency's performance metrics to be centered on the commuters' experience, very unlike the previous leadership's emphasis on infrastructure progress."
The Move As One Coalition also said it would like to have its sectoral representatives from cyclists, commuters, operators, and persons with disability groups accompany the transport executives on their commute to air their sentiments on the transport situation.
"Bautista's latest directive to fully deploy 550 buses on the EDSA Busway is a sign that the transport chief recognizes the public transport supply shortage," said transport economist Robert Siy of the Move As One Coalition.
"Bautista ought to look more closely into the supply problem, specifically the operational challenges faced by the industry, and the [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] processes in relation to the limited supply."
Transport still restricted years after COVID-19 began
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, the DOTr suspended all modes of public transport. Since the reopening of the economy, the LTFRB had been slowly authorizing the opening of routes and issuing permits to allow the operations of a number of public utility vehicles.
Commuter groups campaigned for the immediate release of all PUVs, specifically the traditional jeepneys, which were last to be allowed to operate.
"Marami sa amin ang gustong bumiyahe at makapagserbisyo sa publiko kasi hanapbuhay namin ang makapagbiyahe. Kaya tang parang dadaan ka sa butas ng karayom sa napakaraming requirements ng LTFRB," Mar Valbuena of transport group Manibela said for his part.
"Andaming gagastusin muna para mabigyan kami ng temporary permit. Baka imbes na iprioritize ni Secretary Bautista ang rationalization of routes, unahin nya ang rationalization ng mga proseso sa LTFRB."
(We want to ply our routes and provide service to the public because that is our livelihood. But we have to go through a very tedious process with the many requirements of LTFRB. We have to spend so much for us to be given a temporary permit. Perhaps the Secretary can instead prioritize the rationalization of LTFRB processes instead of the rationalization of routes.)
To recall, the transportation department bid out the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integration Study Update and Capacity Enhancement Project Area, otherwise known as the Route Rationalization Study, in 2018.
Results of the study have not been released to the public, even if changes in routes and public transport services have already been introduced.
"Kaming mga komyuter ay umaasa na sisiguruhin at uunahin ni Secretary Bautista ang accessiblility ng transport service. Ang kilo-kilometrikong pila sa sakayan ang araw-araw na maniningil sa kanya at sa kanyang mga pangako sa mananakay," said Toix Cerna of Komyut, an online community of commuters.
(We commuters are hoping that Secretary Bautista will prioritize accessibility of transport service. The kilometer-long queues in daily commutes will serve as a constant reminder to Bautista of his promise to commuters.)
READ: Ahead of return to schools, students to get free rides on LRT-2
Bautista has also said that the DOTr will need P1.4 billion to continue the Libreng Sakay program until the end of the year.
The Move As One Coalition earlier warned DOTr that Libreng Sakay is not the optimal way of implementing the Service Contracting program under the 2022 national budget, recommending instead that the Service Contracting program be implemented in priority routes and at net-cost.
The Libreng Sakay program has forced many operators not included in the program out of service, as commuters preferred the short-lived free rides program. — Franco Luna