CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has assured that the city will reopen more jeepney routes soon.
Labella appealed for the traditional public utility jeepney (TPUJ) drivers as well as commuters to “wait for a while” as they are still in the process of making guidelines to ensure that health protocols will be strictly implemented.
“We’re just trying to formulate guidelines so that there will be strict implementation. We are really preventing the surge of cases like what’s happening in Manila,” said Labella.
“We notice that in Manila, one of the reasons why there is a surge is that there is lack of proper guidelines and implementation of the protocols in the traditional jeepneys. We are trying to avoid that to happen in the city,” he added.
The city’s Jeepney task force earlier recommended the opening of all Cebu City TPUJ routes.
Councilor James Anthony Cuenco, head of the task force, had already formally submitted a follow up letter with regard to their recommendation but no approval has been given yet.
Cuenco disclosed that some bus units have pulled out in the city and are slowly returning to their respective provincial routes which means the number of buses in the city would be lesser.
He said it can be observed that there are a lot of commuters, and such development would really affect them.
Labella said modern jeepneys managed by different cooperatives are already plying the streets.
“If the buses will go back to the provinces, we have also our modern jeepneys that are very comfortable and are already plying the city streets. But, let us also look into the plight of the traditional jeepneys,” said Labella. — GMR (FREEMAN)