While jeepney drivers and operators ended their week-long transport strike today after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed to review the controversial jeepney program, a prototype for a modern jeepney received the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) approval just the day before.
The prototype, which was manufactured locally, resembles the look of a traditional jeepney but with new features such as a higher ceiling that allows passengers to stand inside the vehicle, handrails, built-in security cameras, and a Euro 5 engine.
It has two doors—the main one on the right side and an exit door at the back that can be attached to a ramp for persons with disabilities.
The prototype was first said to have been finished in 2019.
While the proposal to modernize jeepneys sounds good in theory, drivers and operators plying the road feared this would phase out operators of traditional jeepneys.
Public utility operators protested the LTFRB’s memorandum circular as part of its modernization program to consolidate individual traditional jeepneys into a cooperative or corporation by June 30, which means they would have to surrender their franchises.
The government plan will also entail high costs to jeepney operators, who will need to raise PHP300,000 (US$5,421.87) in paid-up capital to comply with the requirements. These cooperatives will also eventually be required to upgrade their fleets to modern jeepneys, which will go for up to PHP2.5 million (US$45,182.22) per unit. While cooperatives will be allowed to acquire bank loans for the jeepneys, this means having to subsist on low wages to pay off the vehicles.
Although the LTFRB said it would extend the deadline to December 31 this year, operators argued they needed the government’s support to subsidize the modernization of their fleets.
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