by John Rey Saavedra/PNA

CEBU CITY — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 (Central Visayas) has made the initial rollout of the national government’s public utility jeepney (PUJ) modernization program in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
LTFRB-7 Director Eduardo Montealto said Friday at least 25 of the 100 units of modern PUJs arrived in Lapu-Lapu City and are ready for initial implementation of the new route scheme, which is still under study.
“We are already conducting daily road survey covering at least two routes per day,” Montealto said in a radio interview.
He said the road survey is intended to determine the necessity of routes in certain areas that will be consolidated in the proposed routes to be submitted by the local government of Lapu-Lapu.
The initial implementation should already determine the needed daily routes, pending approval of the local public transport route plan (LPTRP) that will be crafted by the LGU, Montealto added in the vernacular.
He said the agency targets that by 2020, PUJ modernization is fully implemented in Lapu-Lapu.
It means that all 100 units of solar jeepneys will be plying the routes to be determined by the LPTRP of the city government, he said.
Montealto said the LTFRB will conduct a survey to verify the necessity of the routes recommended by the LGU.
“We have to make a survey on the recommended stopover that would not cause traffic,” he said.
The survey will also determine the minimum fleet (number of PUJs) that will ply the recommended routes.
Montealto also noted that transport cooperative members are responsive to the government’s program modernizing the public transport system.