A total of 76 percent of Public Utility Jeepneys (PUJs) and UV Express (UVE) operators have consolidated so far as part of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

In a press briefing on Friday, Jan. 5, LTFRB Board Member Riza Marie Paches said the number translates to 145,721 units of jeepneys and UV Express.

"As of this time, we already have 76 percent or 145,721 in terms of units for UV Express and PUJ. For UV Express, the consolidation rate was at 82 percent and for PUJ, that's 73.96 percent," Paches stated.

In the National Capital Region (NCR) where the bulk of the units and routes are, Paches said the consolidation rate has reached around 51 percent for PUJs and 59 percent for UV Express.

The data for NCR and nationwide consolidation, however, have yet to be finalized since the LTFRB was still validating the total number of operators who beat the last-minute deadline for the industry consolidation last Dec. 31, 2023.

"Wala po ho kaming final na number na maibigay dahil ang NCR pinuproseso 'yung December 31 [data] dahil noong huling araw dinumog ho kami. Hindi lang hanggang alas singko, beyond five o'clock so we are still trying to consolidate the data para maibigay namin sa inyo exactly kung ilan (We cannot release final number yet because we are still processing the data in NCR on Dec. 31 as we were overwhelmed on the last day [of consolidation]. We operated beyond the 5 o'clock deadline so we are still trying to consolidate the data t give you the exact numbers)," LTFRB Chairman Teofilo Guadiz III

The LTFRB also checked the total number of jeepneys and UV Express in NCR with those that have registered franchises to eliminate colorum vehicles in the calculation. This shows the data on how many units have the pertinent documents to run as they are registered, confirmed, and have a valid franchise.

"We compared that data to the consolidated units and we confirmed that the consolidation rate [in NCR] was around 97 percent almost for PUJs or 21,655 units because there are only 22,284 confirmed units for PUJs; and for the level of UV Express it's almost 100 percent when we tried to look at the figures of confirmed units," Paches said.

The industry consolidation component of the PUVMP aims to put together the fragmented public transport operations by consolidating individual operators into a single Transport Service Entity (TSE), either through a cooperative or a corporation.

The deadline for the consolidation was on Dec. 31, 2023 but drivers who failed to consolidate are still allowed to ply their routes until Jan. 31. During that period, a show cause order (SCO) will be issued to the non-compliant drivers as part of due process before any action on the cancellation of their franchise is undertaken.

'No jobs lost'

Even if many operators have failed to consolidate before the deadline ended, Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) Chairman Jesus "Andy" Ortega assured that no jeepney driver will lose his/her job as they may be absorbed by other cooperatives.

"'Yung mga drivers ng operators, sila po ay hindi mawawalan ng trabaho (The drivers of the operators will not lose their jobs). The consolidation was just about the operators," he said.

Ortega explained that there are far more drivers than operators since one operator can manage multiple drivers.

"Ang mga drivers ngayon supposedly ay walang hanapbuhay dahil wala na ang mga operator (The drivers right now supposedly are out of livelihood because they lost their operators). But this is now the situation, the OTC has contacted different cooperatives nationwide, and in fact we already contacted the federations that handled many cooperatives and we relayed the concern of the drivers," he continued.

"We will assure by the cooperatives, sila po ay tatanggap ng mga drivers doon sa mga operators na hindi nagconsolidate (they will accept drivers coming from operators that did not consolidate). They are badly needed by the cooperatives," the OTC chief stated.