The Department of Transportation (DOTr) welcomed the city government’s move to provide free rides to Puerto Princesa residents.
Transportation assistant secretary Alberto Suansing said Wednesday that the subsidy program enacted by the city government was a “good move” to look out for its people who are returning to work after more than a month of work hiatus due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed on March 14.
“What they did is good because people are just now returning [to work] and at least the burden of having no means of public transport is no longer their worry,” Suansing said.
Earlier, the City Council passed the Transport Subsidy Program providing P500 daily cash assistance and free fuel to some select drivers and operators.
“The intention was to subsidize the fare and to divide the routes [throughout the city] to accommodate the passengers,” said councilor Victor Oliveros in an earlier statement, majority floor leader of the City Council.
The free rides for public utility vehicles (PUV) including jeepneys and multicabs would run from May 5 until May 15, or until the end of the general community quarantine (GCQ).
The city government has allocated some P5.5 million for the subsidy program.
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