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Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager
Robert Nacianceno over the weekend said that the agency will start
to take aim at colorum and out-of-line jeepneys after its successful
drive against passenger illegal buses last week.
Nacianceno disclosed that the agency is ready
with the next phase of its campaign, which is to weed out illegal
passenger vehicles that will help decongest Metro Manila roads.
He said that despite the criticism they got from
the spray painting the apprehended colorum and out-of-line buses,
the MMDA got its share of praises when it went after illegal buses.
Nacianceno said they are also looking into the
possibility of installing microchips in passenger jeepneys so these
can be tracked. The MMDA is now testing a program to systematically
dispatch buses using microchips.
“It became effective in buses, so we are
considering installing microchips in jeepneys also for their easy
identification,” Nacianceno said in Filipino.
He disclosed that they are now coordinating with
different transport organizations for the implementation of the
anti-colorum drive on jeepneys.
Director Roberto Esquivel, chief of the MMDA
Traffic Enforcement Group, said they are now preparing their
personnel for the scheduled campaign against illegal passenger
jeepneys this week.
He said they will also focus on illegal
terminals once their campaign is launched, and it will be easy for
the agency’s personnel to identify colorum jeepneys.
Normally, Esquivel said, legal terminals can
only acquire 20 to 30 units of jeepneys and those who are running
the terminals, particularly the jeepney operators and drivers’
associations, most of the time accommodate additional units way
beyond the required or allowed number.
Nacianceno also revealed that they are looking
into the possibility of discarding the “flexibility rule” now in
effect in the metropolis. Under that rule, public utility vehicles
can ply roads outside of their regular routes.
He said the rule has been abused by various
transport groups to hide their colorum units from the authorities.
Nacianceno said the flexibility rule was
implemented in the metropolis to decongest major thoroughfares
during holidays, and when there are road diggings.
“The rule is being utilized for re-routing
purposes during holidays and when there are ongoing government
projects, but it was abused by erring bus operators,” Nacianceno
said.
-- James Konstantin Galvez and Jayson Cruz Luna
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