EASTERN VISAYAS: TACLOBAN CITY
Tacloban to launch 45 e-PUVs on Dec. 15 THE TACLOBAN City government is set to formally launch on Friday, Dec. 15, the operation of 45 units of electric public utility vehicles (e-PUVs) under the national government’s transport modernization program. “The city government of Tacloban is grateful for this rare opportunity of being the first city in the country to have the ePUVs. This will serve the 8,000 Yolanda survivors now residing at permanent housing villages in Tacloban,” the city’s media information chief Bernardetta Valenzuela told
The Freeman. The e-PUVs will be available to jeepney operators and single owners via a financing plan that will be introduced later, amounting to P1.6 million per unit. Old jeepneys could be used as downpayment with the balance payable within seven years at 6% interest per annum. Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Regional Director Renwick K. Rotaguio said he is confident of convincing PUV operators and representatives from the different sectors in Eastern Visayas to support the drivers of these e-PUVs by providing them regular salaries and benefits. “This may also lessen the traffic problem now hounding the entire city of Tacloban and other places in the region, and will make (them) realize that the modernization of PUVs has a lot of benefits for operators and the public,” he said. —