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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider 2M students benefit from DOTr's free rides

2M students benefit from DOTr's free rides

Published Jan 3, 2023 12:29 pm

The Department of Transportation (DOTr)'s fuel subsidy for public utility vehicles (PUVs) and "Libreng Sakay" (Free Ride) programs to cushion the effect of the oil price hikes on commuters benefitted 1.743 million students, according to the administration's year-end report released on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

In the Light Rail Transit (LRT)-2 alone, DOTr said 1.6 million students benefitted from the free rides from August 22 to November 5, 2022.

In addition, under the Oplan Balik Eskwela program of the MRT-3 and the Philippine National Railways (PNR), a total of 143,290 students were given a 20 percent fare discount.

For its part, the government’s Service Contracting Program (SCP) also provided compensation to operators and drivers whose livelihoods were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in oil prices.

From April to July 2022, 19,194 PUV drivers were contracted to operate 16,832 PUV units on 921 routes across the country.

As of December 23, 2022, the EDSA Busway is being serviced by 751 Public Utility Bus units operated by 87 companies.

DOTR

The DOTr's P8.4 Billion Free Ride scheme under its Service Contracting Program (SCP) ended December 31, 2022.

The program exhausted its P7 Billion allocation under the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA) as well as the additional P1.4 Billion funds from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

However, for 2023, the GAA has approved P1.285 Billion for the SCP, according to the DOTR.

Related Tags

free rides STUDENT BENEFICIARIES OF FREE RIDES DOTr fuel subsidy program
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