LTFRB chair urges BBM to continue service contracting program, free rides

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is hoping the administration of President-elect Bongbong Marcos will continue implementing the Service Contracting Program (SCP) to ease the daily transportation ordeal of both drivers and commuters.,In Tuesday’s episode of Straight Talk, an online show of the Daily Tribune, LTFRB chairman Atty. Martin Delgra III said the program was allotted P7 billion for the rest of the year.,“We see, based on projections, that President-elect Marcos will continue the program. I just don’t know until when, but more or less it will run until the third quarter of the year because many have already benefited from it,” Delgra said.,SCP briefer stated that the latest implementation of the program will run from March to December or “until all the funds allotted are exhausted.”,The LTFRB relaunched Phase 3 of the Service Contracting Program in April, which according to Delgra had so far recorded 119 million in ridership. The agency estimated that around 553 PUV operators, 24,408 drivers, and 93,096,900 commuters are expected to benefit from the SCP.,The SCP offers interested PUV drivers and operators two types of contracts — the gross service contract and the net service contract.,The gross service contract provides them additional revenue based on their daily number of trips providing free rides to the riding public.,Under this contract, the rate per kilometer was set at P84 for consolidated entities operating public utility buses (PUB), while P54 per kilometer rate was set for those operating smaller denominations such as modern and traditional public utility jeepneys (PUJ) and UV Express units.,Meanwhile, the net service contract offers participating PUBs and mini-buses a P46.50 per kilometer of service and smaller PUVs with P28 per kilometer of service.,The PUV operators, on the other hand, receive a one-time incentive of P5,000 per unit to cover the “pre-operating costs” while operational incentives are given every week.,The SCP was launched under Republic Act 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which aimed to provide temporary livelihood to displaced transport workers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.