LTFRB open to offering 5-year franchise for jeepneys amid strike

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Monday said it is open in offering a five-year franchise to jeepney operators as part of its negotiations with a transport group on strike.

“Iyong area na puwede naming pag-usapan, iyong five-year na franchise nila. We are willing to sit down with them and agree to that,” LTFRB) chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III said in a press conference on the first day of the three-day strike being conducted by the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON) .

(The area that we can negotiate is their five-year franchise. We are willing to sit down with them and agree to that.)

Currently, the LTFRB offers only one-year provisional authority for jeepney in line with the modernization program. The deadline for the consolidation process for public utility vehicles (PUV) is on December 31, 2023.

“But the moment na sumama na sila modernization program, pupuwede naman po naming ibigay iyong five years na hinihingi nila,” Guadiz said.

(But once they join the modernization program, we can give them the five-year franchise they are asking for.)

Gauadiz said PISTON set a meeting with the LTFRB at 3 p.m. on Monday.

PISTON on Monday pushed through with its three-day transport strike to protest the government’s Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program, particularly the December 31 deadline given to jeepney operators for consolidation.

In a statement last week announcing the transport strike, PISTON said the franchise consolidation scheme "may result in the monopoly of a few big fleet managers or corporations who have the necessary capitalization to control PUV routes."

In the Camanava (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) area alone, around 8,000 to 10,000 jeepney drivers are expected to participate in the transport strike, according to James Agustin's report on Unang Balita.

According to the LTFRB, around 70% of PUV operators have already complied with the modernization program. —KBK, GMA Integrated News