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The selling price of the new jeepneys the government wanted the operators to purchase ranged from P1.5 million to P1.6 million ($27,840 to $31.82). Under a seven-year loan package with interest, the final price would be more than P2 million each, making the government-vetted jeepney as costly as a sports utility vehicle.
When once Philippine jeepneys were iconic testaments to Filipino ingenuity, resourcefulness and folk art, the erstwhile “King of the Road” is now derided by government as a backward and inefficient mode of mass transport, polluting and unsafe, their drivers an...
MANILA -- Various jeepney routes in Metro Manila and major roads in the provinces nationwide were almost hundred percent clear of public utility jeepneys on October 16 and 17, during the two-day transport strike. Piston estimated the participation in the strike was...
“Our proposal details steps for the modernization and nationalization of our mass transport system. But Duterte personally rejected our request and instead told us to hold a two-month strike first, and he would give us a permit.” - Piston
“What is not being explained fully to the public is the component of corporate takeover and imminent threat of fare hikes in the government's so-called jeepney modernization program.”
"We plan the protests to be participated in not just by transport groups but by various sectors, too, because commuters stand to pay the higher costs of this fake jeepney modernization.”
Piston said most of the country’s jeepney drivers and operators are fine with upgrading and rehabilitating the jeepneys, but not in the total scrapping of it as advocated by the Transportation department.
The No To Jeepney Phaseout Coalition points to Mar Roxas as one of the prime movers of the jeepney phase out plan when he was still Transportation secretary.
Instead of killing off small jeepney manufacturers, operators, the government could help them in acquiring new machines at friendly prices and contracts.
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