March 29, 2024

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has started its countdown for public transport associations to consolidate before the March 31 deadline.
Deadline for consolidation of individual franchises was supposed to be on Dec. 31, 2020. But in consideration of the plight of public utility vehicle drivers and operators, the LTFRB, on Dec. 19, 2021 has extended the deadline to March 31.
The latest deadline is the fourth extension granted by the LTFRB since it started implementing the PUV modernization program in 2017 through Department of Transportation Order 2017-011.
As of Feb. 3, there are only 25 PUJ, one taxi cooperative, and five UV express service covering 119 routes with a total of 1,596 units have consolidated regionwide. There are more than 3,000 PUVs in the Cordillera.
Under the PUV modernization program, PUV operators are obliged to be members of a cooperative or a corporation for the consolidation of their franchises.
One requirement for the franchise consolidation is the replacement of traditional jeepneys to modernized units that are Euro-4 compliant.
After the deadline, individual franchises will be dissolved.
PUV operators may still consolidate after the deadline but they lose their privilege of operating at the route if a compliant cooperative or corporation applies. – Rimaliza A. Opiña