Tugade urges PUV drivers to join service contracting program

FILE: Nasa 832 Traditional Public Utility Jeepney (TPUJ) drivers na ang kasalukuyang nasa Quezon City Memorial Circle upang makapagrehistro sa Service Contracting Program ng Department of Transportation (DOTr) at Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). (Photo: Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board – LTFRB/Facebook)

MANILA – Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade on Friday urged drivers of public utility vehicles (PUV) to join the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) “Service Contracting Program (SCP)” to receive additional income.

“I am calling on our drivers to participate in this program, to enable the government to help them recover their lost income due to the pandemic. Please go to Quezon City Circle and register. Please do not waste this golden opportunity,” Tugade said in a media bulletin.

PUV drivers, he said, are one of the most disadvantaged sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic, hence, the government’s push to provide them with additional income through the SCP.

“This Service Contracting Program is one of the programs under the ‘Bayanihan to Recover as One Act,’ wherein we will assist the drivers to gain additional income by giving them performance-based incentives that will also aid in raising the level of service, reliability, and efficiency in the country’s public transport system,” Tugade said.

The SCP is available to drivers of modern public utility jeepneys (PUJ), traditional PUJs, and passenger buses that are plying active routes.

Under the program, drivers or operators of traditional and modern PUJs will receive PHP11 per kilometer while bus operators or drivers will receive PHP23.10 per kilometer. This subsidy will be disbursed weekly to the drivers through the Land Bank of the Philippines.

In an advisory, the LTFRB said 797 traditional PUJ drivers joined the SCP during its second day of registration and orientation at the Quezon City Memorial Circle Basketball Covered Court, in addition to 1,520 drivers who joined during the first day of the event.

The SCP registration and orientation event began on Wednesday and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Sunday.

Interested drivers are required to bring the original and a photocopy of their driver’s license, a certificate signed by their operator that proves they are a designated PUV driver, two photocopies of their operator’s valid ID (front and back) signed three times by the operator and a photocopy of the official receipt/certificate of registration (OR/CR).