MANILA — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation’s (Toyota) recently unveiled 12-seater modern public utility vehicle (PUV) is meant to serve in the country’s inner-city roads and smaller municipalities.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the agency clarified that the Toyota Hilux Class 1 modern PUV, with a price tag of PHP998,000, was meant for narrow barangay, municipal, or provincial roads due to its smaller size and more affordable price.
This, after some netizens aired concerns that the newly-unveiled prototype PUV could add to the country’s worsening traffic congestion due to its smaller passenger capacity compared to existing PUVs in major roads.
“Hindi po talaga ito kalakihan. It will depend on the operator kung ito po ang pipiliin nilang bilhin depende sa ruta at pangangailangan nila (This is not large. It’s up to the operator if they will choose to buy this depending on their route and their needs). If operators want a more spacious and bigger unit, they can opt to purchase a Class 2 vehicle,” the DOTr statement said.
Their showcase of Toyota’s Class 1 PUV, the DOTr said, was also meant to prove that the government’s PUV modernization program need not be overly expensive.
“Gusto lang po namin maintindihan ng marami na hindi totoong lahat ng units eh PHP2 to 2.6 million pataas. May mas mura pong options. (We just want people to understand it’s not true all PUV units cost PHP 2 to 2.6 million or up. There are cheaper options),” it added.
Under the Department of Trade and Industry – Bureau of Philippine Standards’ (DTI-BPS) Philippine National Standards (PNS), Class 1 PUVs have a seating capacity of nine to 12, which the DOTr said can be used as a replacement to tricycles or ‘multicabs’ which have an average seating capacity of 10.
“It’s also a better alternative when public transport demand is not yet that high to warrant a bigger mode of public transportation,” the DOTr said.
Meanwhile, Class 2 and 3 PUVs both have a maximum seating capacity of 23 and are almost the same in terms of dimensions.
However, Class 2 PUVs have jeepney-like side-facing seats and meant to ply the country’s city streets and other busy thoroughfares while Class 3 PUVs use front-facing and more comfortable seats for point-to-point or long-distance routes.
All three PUV classes are also required to have air-conditioning units, GPS, CCTV, Wi-Fi, must be compliant with EURO IV standards or better, and other features meant to help persons with disabilities/senior citizens and other passengers have more comfortable rides.
In a press conference last week, transport group Pasang Masda announced the rollout of 15 Isuzu modern PUVs in the Nichols-Parañaque route.
During the event, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade revealed their partnership with a private vehicle manufacturer to release a sub-PHP1 million Class 1 modern PUV to add to the current stable of available modern PUVs in the local market.