Hyundai, Petron tie up for free ride for health workers

FREE RIDE FOR HEALTH WORKERS. Hyundai’s HD50S Class 2 modern Jeepney is deployed by Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) to give free shuttle service to healthcare workers in Metro Manila. This is under the Department of Transportation’s Libreng Sakay program. (Photo courtesy of HARI via PNA)

MANILA – Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, has forged a partnership with oil firm Petron Corp. to support the government’s program in providing free transportation to healthcare workers.

In a statement Wednesday, HARI said Petron is providing free fuel for Hyundai vehicles deployed under the “Libreng Sakay” program of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for medical workers.

Under HARI’s Ligtas Byahe project, it turned over three vehicles –the H-100 shuttle, HD36 shuttle, and HD50S Class 2 modern jeepney– to DOTr to help serve the 20 defined routes under the free ride program.

HARI said these Hyundai shuttles have served over 3,000 medical frontliners in Metro Manila.

“With Petron as our partner, expect our Ligtas Biyahe vehicles to be at optimal service for our front-liners as we move towards a better normal. This cements our commitment to provide the riding public vehicles that are safe and convenient in these challenging times,” HARI president and chief executive officer Maria Fe Perez-Agudo said.

Perez-Agudo said these Hyundai vehicles are Covid-19-ready with installed barriers to ensure physical distancing inside the vehicle.

The HD50S Class 2 modern jeepney is also compliant to the Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program of the government.

This model has received the certificate of compliance to PUV Modernization Program in 2019 along with H-100 Class 1 modern jeepney.

On the other hand, the HD50S Class 3 modern jeepney that was launched last January is poised to undergo DOTr’s testing.

“Since we began our commercial vehicle business in 2016, we have strongly supported PUV modernization. The situation, however, has drastically changed and we have quickly adapted our vehicles in order to keep on serving the public. In just a few weeks since its conceptualization, we were able to manufacture vehicles that now allow hundreds, if not thousands of Filipinos, to get to their destination with the safety and peace of mind provided by these Covid-ready vehicles,” Perez-Agudo added.