Bohol first province with

complaint transport plan

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb 10 (PIA)—When granted its Notice of Compliance (NOC) which can come anytime, Bohol would distinguish itself as the first provincial local government unit to be complaint with the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) guidelines for the Public Utility Vehicles Modernization Plan as set by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Provincial Planning and Development Officer Atty John Titus Vistal bared this, while an LTFRB official who partnered with Bohol in crafting the plan nodded in silent approval at the announcement, during the weekly Capitol Reports streamed live at the Bohol Provincial Government Youtube channel.

This too as governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado stepped in to address the aggravating transport related problems here and to fill in the future demands for transportation in the country.

Coming in and hearing public complaints of overcharging, absence of transport vehicles plying routes and the unreliability of trip schedules that causes so much hassle, Gov Aumentado and his team rolled their sleeves and found out that local government units have been remiss in crafting their LPTRP.

Since 2018 when there was an orientation on the Public Utility Vehicles Modernization Program (PUVMP), it was only when Aumentado sat in power that the decision to craft instead the Provincial LPTRP has to be done for inter-town routes, explained Vistal during the streamed forum.

What past leaders failed to sustainably address, spawned problems that also forced people to contract illegal motorcycles for hire as commutes or bought motorcycle as service vehicles.

And as the country’s transport sector implements the much-needed reform in the PUVMP, the new guidelines would also require LGUS who are generally familiar with their areas, to craft their own LPTRP.

“LPTRP is a detailed plan of route network with specific modes of transportation required, the number of units per route for determining land transport service,” clarifies Vistal.

LTFRB, through Transport Development Officer Eugenio Ebo Jr, said the LPTRP will determine how many vehicles would be allowed to ply a particular route, that a recognized route plan would easily address the scarcity of vehicles in a specific route.

On this, Vistal said, Bohol which started preparing the intertown route plan by assembling a task force gathering data, researching and organizing participatory dialogs, also called on LGUS to complete their local intra-municipality route plans (MPTRP).

This is so that commuters from barangays could also be served by a regular and predictable-scheduled vehicle to ply that specific route.

Both the Provincial LPTRP and the MLPTRP would be a basis for LTFRB to issue new PUB franchises when they see the density of traffic, vehicles and road condition, which are reflected in the plan.

Ebo also said under the new guidelines, the LTFRB would not be needing anymore 15 units for an operator or a cooperative to serve a route.

At least majority of those authorized operators with a franchise serving the route are consolidated, this would also help them map out plans for fleet management, as cost-efficient way to get the route served, he said.

There is a need to organize because if you’re operating individually, there is a great possibility that you would compete with other transport groups, and it would not be cost effective as the concern would be profit.

During peak hours, all vehicles may be dispatched at determined intervals, and in non-peak hours, maybe only a few vehicles would be serving the route, so as to save on costs, authorities explained.

While Bohol may soon get a NOC, Alburquerque town is the first of Bohol’s towns with NOC, while 37 towns have their submitted route plans reviewed by the LTFRB and 12 more towns which have yet to craft and submit their drafts to the region’s franchise granting agency. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

COOPERATIVIZE OR CONSOLIDATE. LTFRB Transport Development Officer Eugenio Ebo Jr., said under the new PUVMP, the LTFRB may not be looking for 15 units per route by one operator, but consolidated so that majority of those serving the route are organized so there is no competition, and they could put up a fleet management program so they can deploy exact number of vehicles per demand to be cost effective. (PIABohol)

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING. Under the guidance of the LTFRB, Boholanos crafted the local public transport route plan, taking physical surveys on traffic volume, vehicle count, road conditions and peak commuter hours to come up with a detailed plan on transport service allocation per route, says Planning Officer Atty John Titus Vistal. (PIABohol)