Iloilo City traffic: World Bank cites PUV oversupply, route skipping

ILOILO CITY — An oversupply of public utility vehicles (PUVs) on some routes, along with overlapping operations and route skipping, has contributed to road congestion and uneven public transport service in Iloilo City, according to a World Bank Group study.

Bowen Wang, senior transport specialist at the World Bank Group, said the number of vehicles on the road exceeds passenger demand on some routes.

Meanwhile, some areas remain underserved because operators avoid routes they consider unprofitable, he said.

“[Iloilo City is facing] an oversupply of vehicles on the road compared with the demand. There are also more vehicles circulating versus the number of franchises issued, which indicates the proliferation of colorum vehicles,” Wang said.

Colorum vehicles are those operating without a valid franchise.

Wang also cited overlapping routes, with three to four transport service entities (TSEs) competing to serve popular routes.

TSEs are transport cooperatives or corporations that individual PUV operators must join or form under the government’s industry consolidation policy.

Wang said the issuance of Certificates of Public Convenience (CPCs) based on administrative boundaries, particularly the separation between Iloilo City and border towns, also poses a challenge to route planning.

A CPC is an official permit or franchise, issued by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, that legally authorizes an individual or company to operate a PUV.

The World Bank study showed that 16 TSEs serve Iloilo City and the city’s borders, or “first towns.”

Iloilo City has 1,697 issued CPCs and 25 routes under its Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP).

An LPTRP determines where PUVs may operate within a locality.

The city’s LPTRP includes 17 rationalized routes and eight developmental or newly established routes.

The LPTRP began full implementation on May 27, 2024.

The plan restricts provincial jeepneys from entering Iloilo City, requiring many passengers from Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Leganes, northern Iloilo, Capiz, and Aklan to transfer at perimeter terminals.

Some routes are heavily served

The study also found that four transport cooperatives account for 81 percent of the CPCs, while 12 other entities hold the remaining 19 percent.

The Western Visayas Transport Cooperative holds 30 percent of CPCs and serves 13 routes; Metro Iloilo Transport Service Cooperative holds 19 percent and serves seven routes; Iloilo City Alliance Operators and Drivers Transport Cooperative holds 17 percent and serves 11 routes; and Iloilo Transport Service Cooperative holds 15 percent and serves nine routes.

The other 12 cooperatives collectively hold 19 percent of CPCs and serve 15 routes.

Despite the fleet size, Wang said route skipping remains widespread across the city’s existing LPTRP routes, leaving some areas without adequate jeepney service while other corridors have numerous vehicles.

“What we observed is that route skipping is quite widely a reality. You can see that some of those LPTRP routes are not covered by jeepneys, while there are some areas where there are jeepneys serving them,” he said.

“Actual routes in operation are fewer than what was approved in LPTRP,” he added.

The World Bank identified three possible reasons for route deviations: prioritizing busy corridors to maximize profits, avoiding congested road segments, and competition or passenger-sharing arrangements involving jeepneys and tricycles.

The study reported 182,000 daily passengers and 5,120 daily trips across existing routes, with estimated annual ridership of 52.6 million and 23.4 million annual vehicle-kilometers.

However, Wang cautioned that these figures do not necessarily represent actual commuter demand across Metro Iloilo because some routes are skipped.

The study also noted that 18 of the 25 LPTRP routes are high-frequency routes, meaning vehicles arrive, on average, less than 10 minutes apart during peak hours.

Meanwhile, 16 routes are tagged as moderate- to low-frequency routes, where vehicles arrive at intervals of 10 to 60 minutes during peak hours, meaning commuters may have to wait longer.

Wang said the city government should focus on modernizing public transport services rather than concentrating solely on upgrading vehicles.

“Modernizing service means service levels are clearly defined for all routes — how frequent, how punctual, and the timetable for those routes should be clearly determined,” he said.

He said operators should be incentivized to meet these service standards, while a public transport authority or an equivalent monitoring mechanism should ensure compliance.

Wang said clearly defined standards and monitoring would help ensure that transport providers deliver the services promised to commuters.

“That is the goal, that is the objective,” he said.

The World Bank noted that Iloilo City’s modernization rate is 22 percent, which it described as “well ahead of the country in terms of consolidation.”

Consolidation is a component of the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) that organizes individual PUV operators into TSEs.