CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A big problem on transportation is well in the offing for night commuters here as a transport group said its members cannot pick up passengers anymore beyond 8 p.m. The United Drivers Association (UNIDA) composed of jeepney drivers and operators plying the routes of Barangays Bonbon, Kauswagan, Bayabas, and Kauswagan NHA said through its president that its members cannot sustain the operation if they are also asked ply the routes at night.
A PUBLIC utility jeepney and other four-wheel vehicles ply the route of Don Apolinar Velez St., Cagayan de Oro City, on Wednesday morning, June 14. (Franck Dick Rosete)
Unida president Joel Gabatan said the volume of passengers would start to dwindle at 8 p.m. onwards and the income would not be enough even for gasoline if a jeepney driver would still cater to commuters beyond that hour. The Unida official made the statement in response to a request of the Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) for its members to also ply at night. "It will be difficult for us to grant (RTA’s request) because (jeepney) drivers won’t proceed if there are only 10 passengers. If they wait, that means an inconvenience for the passengers," Gabatan told the Manila Bulletin in the vernacular in a phone interview on Monday, June 26. A solution to the transportation woes could be to allow tri-cabs or more commonly known here as “bao-bao” but the law does not allow these vehicles to take passengers at night. When the city government convened the top officials of the Land Transportation (LTO), the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and other line agencies, including the representatives of various transport groups, on March 17, Gabatan himself suggested allowing the tricabs to pick up passengers from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. The suggestion, he said, is a "win-win" solution as it will help the tri-cabs drivers earn a living for their families while affording the jeepney drivers some rest at night. Mae Shanne Angelic Siglos, a call center agent here who works at night, told the Manila Bulletin on Monday, June 26, that tricab vehicles are definitely useful, considering that the fare is affordable compared to "habal-habal." Councilor Romeo Calizo, chairman of the city council’s committee on public utilities, has been saying that there’s no law yet allowing tricabs to be used as public transport. These vehicles, he said, are also prohibited from traveling on highways, based on Memorandum Circular 2020-036 from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). RTA consultant Andrew Tupag, during the press conference on Monday, personally acknowledged the capacities of tricab vehicles as "modernized motorelas," but admitted it is still illegal to use them as public transport. The majority of the tricabs picking up passengers in the city can be seen at night to avoid law enforcement. RTA department manager Engr. Nonito Oclarit said they could not apprehend these bao-bao vehicles because they lack manpower. The RTA department manager added that the problem on public transport at night will be solved once the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) is fully implemented. It can be recalled that the Bugo-Puerto-Agusan-Tablon-Cugman Tricab Operators and Drivers Association asked the city government to temporarily allow them to pick up passengers while they are still processing the requirements to avail themselves of the livelihood program of the Department of Labor and Employment. The city government has already joined other local government units in the country in calling to amend the law and allow tricabs to be used as public transportation. But Calizo said he still has not received any developments on the move they initiated as of June 19.