THE Baguio City Council has requested the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Department of Transportation (LTFRB-DOTR) through a resolution to allow public utility jeeps (PUJs) and taxis in the city to take in more passengers.
The resolution by Councilor Joel Alangsab states that the public utility vehicles (PUVs) in the city need to be able to take in more passengers to keep up with the increasing cost of fuel.
Alangsab’s resolution says that the increase in passenger capacity is necessary because the DOTr has previously rejected petitions to increase fare rates.
Furthermore, Alangsab cited the city’s high vaccination status among residents as an indicator that increasing the carrying capacity of PUVs is not as risky as it could be elsewhere.
The resolution cites the city’s overall 61.9 percent vaccination rate among the eligible population, as well as the ongoing aggressive vaccination efforts that now include certain members of the neighboring municipalities’ populations and teenagers in the city as mitigating factors to support the increase in capacity.
It also cites increasing oil prices led by the various oil companies in the country, necessitating the study of and pursuit of additional means of financial support for the PUVs in the city.
LTFRB-DOTR has previously issued Memorandum Circular No. 2020-017, allowing PUJs to operate with a limited capacity not exceeding half of the vehicle’s capacity in areas under the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status.