MMDA: Transport strike has minimal impact on commuters

FREE RIDE. A female passenger boards a bus offering free rides from Vito Cruz St. to Quezon Boulevard in Quiapo, Manila on Monday (March 6, 2023). The city government of Manila deployed 300 vehicles to assist commuters during the weeklong strike staged by several transport groups across the country. (PNA photo by Yancy Lim)

MANILA – The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday reported that the weeklong transport strike so far had little effect on commuters through contingency measures prepared by the government.

In a press conference at the MMDA office in Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City, MMDA Acting Chair Don Artes said the Inter-Agency Monitoring Team, organized by the Office of the Executive Secretary, prepared and addressed the needs of the riding public amid the protest against the public utility vehicle modernization program (PUVMP).

“Ahead of the transport strike, assets were pre-positioned, contingency plans were in place, and routes that would be affected by the strike were identified,” Artes said.

The MMDA’s expanded number coding scheme will resume Tuesday (March 7).

He also assured the public that there will be sufficient number of passenger vehicles for the duration of the transport strike.

MMDA General Manager Procopio Lipana, head of the Inter-Agency Task Force Monitoring Team Secretariat, said only 88 of the 1,680 vehicles from the national government and local government units (LGU) in the National Capital Region (NCR) were used to ferry affected passengers.

“Only 5 percent of our assets have been utilized and catered to 3,584 passengers,” Lipana said.

These “libreng sakay (free ride)” vehicles are dispatched by the MMDA in areas in NCR where passengers had been reported stranded.

Col. Roman Arugay, operations officer of the NCR Police Office (NCRPO), said no major incidents were reported during the first day of the strike, except for some minor ones involving protesters who blocked streets or coerced other drivers to join them.

“No injuries or harm occurred. No arrest has been made,” Arugay said.

Earlier, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) reported that about 10 percent of all routes in the NCR, and about 5 percent nationwide, have been affected by the transport strike but have mostly been addressed by “rescue buses” and free ride vehicles provided by the government.

LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III appealed to these transport groups to end their protest and offered compromises such as moving the due date for consolidation from June 30 to December 31 and offering a dialogue to further discuss and address the concerns of drivers and operators on the PUVMP.