Traffic enforcers go easy on tricycles with expired franchise

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

 

The Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) is being lenient on tricyle operators and drivers who failed to renew their franchises because of the lack of a Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) on the part of the Iloilo City government.

PSTMO head Jeck Conlu said they will not apprehend drivers of tricycles with expired franchises in consideration of their plight.

“As long as they bring with them their documents, particularly the expired franchise, we will not apprehend or fine them. We also understand the plight of our drivers,” Conlu said.

Earlier, Councilor Rommel Duron, committee on transportation chair, said they cannot renew the franchise of city-based tricycles because the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) did not approve the city’s LPTRP.

The LTPRP is a document required by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) from local government units (LGUs) in 2017.

It is a plan detailing the route network, mode of public transportation (jeep, tricycle), and required number of units per mode for delivering public land transport services. This is prepared by the Local Government Units in accordance with a set of guidelines set by the LTFRB, which approves the plan.

As a result, a moratorium on the issuance of franchises to tricycles began in 2017 upon orders of the Department of Transportation and the Department of Interior and Local Governments. The moratorium will only be lifted once the LTPRPs of the LGUs are approved.

Conlu said they only apprehend new tricycles that were not covered by previous franchises.

“Some new tricycles are taking advantage of the situation, that is why older tricycles are required to bring their old franchises so we can verify,” he added.

Tricycle drivers in the city said they are in a quandary as more than 80 percent of their 3,000 members failed to renew their franchises.

Mario Silvederio, Metro Iloilo City Federation of Tricycle Owners and Drivers Associations president, told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that they mount “guerilla” type operations just to survive.

“Many of us stopped in the meantime. If we do ferry passengers, we do it furtively or in secret because we lack a valid franchise,” Silvederio said.

Meanwhile, Conlu said they already submitted to the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) the approved routes in the city which will be included in the route plan.

The approved routes cover the district of Jaro, LaPaz, Lapuz, Arevalo, Mandurriao, and City Proper.

CPDO head Jose Roni Peñalosa earlier told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that the approved routes and number of registered tricycles were the only data needed to complete the LTPRP.

But Conlu said the figures on tricycles can be retrieved from Business Permits and Licensing Office and the City Council, which approves the franchises.

He added that the pandemic affected the gathering of data for the route plan as the PSTMO is also a frontline office in the response to COVID-19 and due to health protocols imposed by the local government.

Conlu said the local transport council will meet Wednesday to discuss their next move, particularly the issuance of provisional authority to tricycles with expired franchises.