DAVAO CITY – An official from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Davao Region (LTFRB-11) said Friday they have heightened the conduct of its apprehensions on erring public utility drivers (PUV) drivers who overcharge their passengers.
LTFRB-11 administrative officer Mirazah Arraz, the admin officer of LTFRB-11, said their office is now employing means to apprehend those who will not observe proper fare rates. Arraz said that a total of 65 drivers were apprehended by LTFRB-11 for overcharging, trip cutting, non-wearing of uniforms, and other violations.
“Our enforcement team religiously monitors, in fact, our team, they have a schedule to act as a decoy. They will act as commuters to check on drivers who are not following the exact fare rate,” Arraz said in a press briefing here.
Arraz urged the public to take pictures of vehicle plate numbers and PUV IDs of the erring drivers. She added that majority of the apprehensions are from this city.
Based on the Department of Transportation Joint Admin Order No. 2014-01, those who overcharge may face a penalty of PHP5,000 for the first offense, PHP10,000 and impounding of the unit for 30 days for the second offense, and PHP15,000 and cancellation of the Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) for the third offense.
“Most of the drivers apprehended faced the first and second offenses,” Arraz said.
Meanwhile, the city government here has also intensified its information and education campaign on responsible driving.
City Traffic and Transportation Management Office (CTTMO) head Dionisio Abude said in a press briefing Thursday that from January to April this year, the CTTMO logged 3,516 road crash cases in the city.
Of these, private vehicles top the highest number of incidents with 1,386 crashes (39%), followed by motorcycles with 638 (18%).
A total of 632,775 cases of traffic violation apprehensions had been recorded in the same month. Of which, 491,981 have been settled with the rest of the cases still pending.
“We should remind our drivers that we should really follow the traffic rules and regulations so that we can reduce the risks of traffic accidents,” he said. (PNA)
