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ABSTRACT

This document discusses the impact of COVID-19 on public transportation in the Philippines and the guidelines implemented by the government. It notes that public transportation is vital to economic sustainability but was halted by the pandemic. The government imposed restrictions like reducing vehicle capacity to 50% and limiting passengers per row/vehicle to promote social distancing. However, this has further limited transportation availability at a time when demand is increasing as restrictions ease. The document aims to assess the impact on key stakeholders like businesses and operators and provide recommendations to properly implement transportation laws during the health crisis.

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Emman Fernandez
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152 views3 pages

ABSTRACT

This document discusses the impact of COVID-19 on public transportation in the Philippines and the guidelines implemented by the government. It notes that public transportation is vital to economic sustainability but was halted by the pandemic. The government imposed restrictions like reducing vehicle capacity to 50% and limiting passengers per row/vehicle to promote social distancing. However, this has further limited transportation availability at a time when demand is increasing as restrictions ease. The document aims to assess the impact on key stakeholders like businesses and operators and provide recommendations to properly implement transportation laws during the health crisis.

Uploaded by

Emman Fernandez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has greatly affected public transportation in the Philippines. As
many countries start to navigate their return to normality, new public transport planning
requirements are devised. One of the measures formulated by the Inter Agency Task Force of
our present government is a major reduction in service capacity in public and private
transportation. This paper aims to discuss major provisions governing public transportation as
our country transverse to the “new normal”, and how it will affect certain key stakeholder of the
economy.

BACKGROUND
Public transportation as a vital contributing factor in an economic sustainability has been halted
by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. Following the increase in the number of cases,
other countries including the Philippines implemented the so-called social distancing measures
affecting schools, shops, working places, public transport, and many more sectors.1  
Even before the pandemic, one of the major problems in our country is the uneven ratio of
commuters and vehicles. In the Philippines, about 77% of the population live in urban areas
about 1.78 Milliion people in metro Metro Manila alone. Transport systems in major cities are
almost entirely road based. Transport services consist mainly of jeepneys (public utility
vehicles), taxis, tricycles, and pedicabs that are privately owned and operated. In 2010, taxis
comprised 667,424 (35%) of the 1.9 million vehicles in Metro Manila, and half of the 6.6 million
vehicles in the country were motorcycles.2
In 2020, during the surge of Covid infections, Jeepneys were among the modes of public
transportation that was suspended upon the implementation of the Enhanced Community
Quarantine (ECQ) in March. While 64,000 public utility vehicles including buses have resumed
operations, only about 13,000 out of the 55,000 Public Utility Jeepney units have been allowed
to ply certain routes as of August last year.3
With the pandemic, imagine these conditions not being allowed anymore because of the
limitations of COVID-19. These modes of public transport are only allowed to operate with half
of their original capacity. Crowding is not allowed, therefore lessening further the capacity of our
pre-existing modes of transport. At first glance, this sounds like a dream to our commuters.
However, this would also mean more limited public transportation. Adding to the burden of
commuters is the limited number of public transportations allowed to travel.
Public transportation as one of the vectors that spread the contagious disease, the Philippines
has imposed restrictions and protocols with regard to the movement of people and goods which
in turn dealt a severe blow to the Philippine economy. The Department of Transportation in
coordination with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious
Diseases (IATF) have devised a plan for the continuous movement of goods during this
pandemic while minimizing the transmission of the deadly disease.

1
Anderson, Heesterbeek, Klinkenberg, & Hollingsworth, 2020; Lewnard & Lo, 2020
2
Asian Development Bank . (2017). Philippines: Transport Sector Assessment, Strategy, and Road Map
3
(https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/29/20/jeepney-drivers-cry-discrimination-urge-sc-to-nullify-mass-transport-ban-issuances)
Among the key provisions by the IATF includes the following; (1) 50% of the vehicle’s capacity
will be allowed, excluding the driver and the conductor. (2) a maximum of 2 passengers per row
for UV express, (3) only 1 passenger will be allowed to ride in the side-car and no passenger
shall be seated right beside/behind the driver. (4) Further, the operations of tricycles shall be
approved by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and respective LGUs, in
compliance with the existing policies on its operational limitations. (5) The operation of
motorcycle taxis shall be allowed for those considered as APOR. Moreover, enforcement
agencies shall continue to apprehend informal and illegal MC Taxi services or the “habal-
habal.”4
The proponents behind this paper believes that there are certain areas that needs to be
addressed. In a highly urbanized Manila, were most business establishments are situated the
IATF fails to address the demand of transportation in the business sector, with the guidelines of
Observing appropriate physical distancing rule and limited capacity on PUV, how will the
Philippines specially Metro MAnila cope up with such demand. Although restrictions are slowly
easing in, public utility vehicles still aren’t enough to accommodate all the commuters in need.
Meanwhile, other commuters have resorted to cycling and walking due to the limited
transportation services during lockdown. However, this mode of travel still isn’t the most ideal
given our current lack of effective policies and quality urban transport systems.
THESIS STATEMENT
To be able to elaborate certain areas that needs to be addressed in the formulation of
guidelines with regard to public transportation in the new normal.
To Assess impacts on certain key stakeholders directly affected by the restriction in
transportation.
To Provide recommendation for the proper implementation of Transportation Laws amidst the
current health crisis.

RATIONALE

RECOMMENDATION

 contract and pay transport operators to provide transport services, focusing initially on
high volume corridors
 raise capacity and efficiency of public transport with improved infrastructure (dedicated
lanes, improved bus stops, terminals, etc. enabling more round trips/bus)
 shift to automatic fare collection as soon as possible to minimize subsidy requirement
(revenues going to Government)
 activate safe walking and cycling road networks in every urban area so that persons who
cannot access public transport will have good mobility alternatives
4
https://dotr.gov.ph/55-dotrnews/3282-dotr-announces-omnibus-guidelines-on-public-transportation-in-the-enforcement-of-
enhanced-community-quarantine.html
conclusion

STAKEHOLDERS
Key Stakeholders
Business Sector- the business sectors has greatly impacted
Transportation Operators-

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