The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board approved the operation of 90 additional jeepneys to ply around La Trinidad, Benguet.
Mayor Romeo Salda said the additional units will ferry passengers around the municipality and to Baguio City.
The LTFRB previously allowed 22 units to ply the Baguio-Shilan route in rotation. This resulted in hundreds of residents of La Trinidad stranded for hours in Baguio, prompting the local government to deploy its official vehicles to ferry the stranded passengers.
Private individuals also helped transport the passengers.
In response, the municipal government, in coordination with the city government of Baguio, gave special permits to 30 units PUJs to ferry residents from 5 to 8 a.m. and 4 to 8:30 p.m.
The municipal government has also requested the LTFRB to approve additional 50 units that would go around the Baguio to Shilan route.
Salda said they met with City Councilor Benny Bomogao, who said there was an agreement in principle that PUJs from La Trinidad may unload passengers at the Rabbit Sinkhole in Magsaysay. He said unloading would still be at the Slaughterhouse Compound in the meantime.
Meanwhile, Kapangan Mayor Manny Fermin has asked the La Trinidad LGU and the LTFRB to allow the staging of their PUJs at the Rising Sun lot at Km. 4. He said the lot owner and the bus management have a memorandum of agreement allowing use of the area as parking area.
Kapangan PUJs were given special pass by the LTFRB while the Kibungan LGU has a request to stage its mini-bus at Km. 6 Dreamland, also after signing a MOA with the lot owners.
The LTFRB has also allowed the operation of some utility vans plying the Buguias route at Km. 5 Pico Road in La Trinidad at the side of the Petron gas station. – Ofelia C. Empian
April 25, 2024
