By Christine Fabro
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) was forced to temporarily suspend its service contracting program, which hosted free rides in Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) for the past few months.
The service contracting program for PUVs was covered by funds from the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2), a law which officially expired on Wednesday (June 28).
According to LTFRB Chairperson Martin Delgra, the Board has consulted the Department of Budget and Management in extending the free ride services using the ₱3-billion fund allocated to the Department of Transportation under the 2021 Budget.
PUV drivers and operators who signed up for the service contracting program received cash incentives from the LTFRB in return for transportation service.
According to a report from the Philippine News Agency, the said cash incentives include a one-time incentive of ₱20,000, a weekly incentive of ₱7,000 for those who log in to the program five days a week, a ₱4,000 initial payout, and a weekly payout.
Under the service contracting program, about ₱1.5 billion have been distributed to PUV operators, in which 19,000 drivers have received their initial payout and 8,300 drivers have received their “onboarding incentives”. – rir
