More congestion seen with 200 new Baguio taxi slots

By Jessa Mardy P. Samidan

BAGUIO CITY -- The recent opening of 200 taxi franchise slots for the public to apply by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Cordillera is being opposed in Baguio City as it may cause more road congestions.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong aired his opposition to the LTFRBs opening of some 200 slots for taxi units in the city in consideration to the carrying capacity of city roads.

In a dialogue held July 16 at the city Multipurpose Hall,the mayor informed LTFRB Cordillera officer-in-charge Lalaine E. Sobremonte that he opposes additional 200 taxi franchise units to ply the city streets.

Sobremonte said the LTFRB gave consideration to the plight of taxi operators who are unable to acquire franchise due to the nationwide moratorium being imposed by the by the agency.

Baguio since 1996 has imposed a moratorium on the issuance of new franchises to limit the number of vehicles in the city due to the limited width of roads however; some 3,000 franchises were still issued.

To date, Sobremonte said there are 3,429 franchise holders in the city with 185 abandoned due to death of its owners. She explained that the 200 slots being opened now are not new franchise but to fill up the abandoned slots.

However, the available franchise slots cannot be applied individually as it is being offered to transport cooperatives that have already consolidated as cooperative or corporation pursuant to the Department of Transportation’s Department Order 2017-011 or the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines where franchises that will be issued will be on a fleet management scheme.

A maximum of 50 units will comprise one fleet and new franchises will only be granted to registered transport cooperatives with financial capability and vehicles with Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC).

Melanio “Jun” Panayo, Jr., chairman of Polaris Transport Service Cooperative, was whining on the LTFRB requirements as the financial capacity being asked is too high for operators to comply despite the consolidation into a cooperative or corporation.

“If we are to compute 50 franchise by Php800 thousand as minimum cost, a cooperative or corporation must show financial capacity of Php40 million before they qualify, and where do we get that amount?” Panayo asked the LTFRB.

He said the LTFRB should instead focus on apprehending colorum operators to lessen traffic congestion and relax the requirements for the 200 taxi slots.

Meantime, Magalong asked several taxi operators and organizations to help the city government in curbing vehicular traffic situation by abiding to traffic rules and for them to report illegal or colorum operators.*