PUV modernization good to go

The message behind a lower court decision last month—scrapping a transport group petition to stop the Department of Transportation from implementing the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines on modernizing public utility vehicles—needs no brilliant legal mind to understand.

The Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) is a long-overdue revamp of the public transport system in this country. This program badly needs a push for the sake of public commuters who suffer the daily indignities of standing in long queues of waiting passengers under the heat of the sun or in the middle of a downpour, inhaling the stench of passing smoke belching buses, taxis, jeepneys, trucks and private cars, desperate for a ride to the office or school, only to get caught in hours of traffic on the road once able to catch a ride, and then go through the same ordeal on their way back home later in the day.