LTFRB urges LGUs to prepare for devolution of transport regulations

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is calling on local government units to prepare for the devolution of the regulation of public transport to them, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said today.

Lacson met with Atty. Ma. Josette Abellar, OIC Chief Transportation Development Officer of LTFRB Region 6, and Rochelle Mae Amar, Focal Person of Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) on Tuesday.

The two officials briefed the Capitol executives on the latest LTFRB regulations including the Local Public Transport Route Plan for the province.

“As a province, our scope is the national highway routes and whose plying it. If there is a need for a franchise the provincial government has a say in it. Within the city, it will be the LGUs that have scope over it if they allow new routes,” the governor pointed out.

He added that LGUs have to approve it before jeepneys can consolidate.

Asked on the Ceres Bus Lines, operated by the Yanson family, Lacson said “if it is a new route applied for, we need to study if there’s a need to open the route.”

“The implementation is not immediate. It will take 20 months before it is totally devolved to the LGUs,” he said.

Lacson said the LTFRB will conduct a briefing with mayors in the province on how the devolution will be implemented.* (EYAdiong)