ROUTE PLANS. File photo shows Talisay City Traffic Operations and Development Authority head Jonathan Tumulak (right) inspecting modern public utility vehicles plying the route of the portal city to south of Cebu province. Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has issued an order which took effect on Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023) giving municipal and city planning and traffic officers 45 days to complete their Local Public Transport Route Plan that will detail the transportation needs of their localities. (File photo courtesy of Talisay City PIO)
CEBU CITY – Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on Wednesday ordered all local government units in the province of Cebu to complete the detailed route network plan for the modern public utility vehicles plying the routes to and from different localities.
In an executive order, Garcia instructed all municipalities and six component cities, including the independent component city of Mandaue, to submit a draft Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) within 45 days.
Within the period, 170 modern PUVs have been allowed to ply the routes to and from Liloan, Consolacion and Mandaue in the north and Talisay City, Minglanilla, and Naga City in the south, after Garcia endorsed the special permits issued by Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)-Central Visayas.
“They have 45 days. That is the short-term solution because we are faced with a possible crisis. The long-term solution would be, we have already scheduled by the first of February for three days, we will call all the city and municipal planning officers of all the LGUs of Cebu together with their chiefs or heads of traffic and enforcement division, to undergo a 30-day seminar to be conducted by the LTFRB,” the governor said.
The seminar, she said, will provide the planning officers and traffic officers with the technical perspective for the drafting of LPTRP that will address the transport needs of the respective localities.
LTFRB-7 regional director Eduardo Montealto Jr. said an LPTRP is a plan passed by an LGU’s Sanggunian (council) detailing the route network, mode and required number of units per mode for delivering land transport service, which was set as the minimum requirement prescribed for the issuance of PUV franchises.
According to Garcia, the provincial government will ensure the planning and traffic officers could come up with the transport route network plan of their respective localities within the 45-day window given to the 170 modern PUVs now operating under special permits.
“Mismo kada LGU mo-come sa ila mga rota but di na kay ana ra nagtuyotktuyok necessarily mo-connect gyud na sa sunod that is why there has to be the provincial government nga maoy mo-integrate ani tanan (Each LGU will come up with their own routes, but it is not that they will be traveling around in one locality, they will necessarily connect to the next one, that is why there has to be the provincial government that will integrate all this) and of course with the guidance of LTFRB,” Garcia said. (PNA)
