New PUV offers higher monthly income for drivers, operators

The new eco public utility vehicle (PUV) will ensure drivers and operators far greater earnings of R46,000 a month than driving their old and highly-pollutant jeepneys, according to the truck body builders.

A computation by the newly organized Automotive Body Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (ABMAP), the official organization of truck body builders in the country, showed how operators will be able to afford the proposed new Eco PUVs being planned by the Department of Transportation, Department of Trade and Industry, Truck Manufacturers Association, Philippine Parts Maker Association, Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines and ABMAP.

After consultation with 1Team which operates more than 100 PUJs today, numerous information were gathered and collated by ABMAP with respect to operational and financial results of fleet operations. As per assumptions and details provided by 1Team, ABMAP concludes that operators will be able to afford the brand new, modern PUV, and potential earnings of R46,000 a month.

ABMAP concluded that the old jeepneys will generate a net income of only R30,000 a month (R2,000 a day times 15 working days) while the modern Eco PUVs will generate R76,180 net income a month (R2,930 a day times 26 working days) or a difference of R46,180 units a month.

ABMAP ABMAP General Manager of 1Team Yuri Sarmiento said that the study validated that each jeepney route is unique and income generation varies from location to location, mostly dependent on passenger density.

The low-density, lower income jeepney routes generate about R1,500 per day which makes it difficult to generate a substantial take-home income with. This passenger volume and rate of income would only be viable for tricycles and usually, routes that have this low passenger volume do have tricycles competing with them. For R1,500 a day operations, only tricycles with its low cost of capital and operations can afford plying these routes.

Sarmiento explained that the higherdensity, higher-end jeepney routes would be the longer ones going towards outside of the city.

These would generate up to R6,000 a day. But you have to understand that jeepneys only make money when they are full of passengers. However, that only happens during rush hours from 6:00 to 9:00 in the morning and 5:00 to 8:00 in the evening. The rest of the day is non-peak hours and it makes more sense for the drivers to just rest and wait for the rush hours again.”

“In this case, it makes sense to track them with GPS and to have some kind of deployment system to only field enough PUVs on the road at these hours to make sure that they run at full capacity and to lessen traffic congestion,” ABMAP said.

ABMAP explained that in the case of the current PUJ, the gross revenue of a typical daily grind of a 1Team driver is on the average at R4,000 a day.

Fuel expenses would be at R1,000, operator boundary or driver salary at R600 (operating from 16 to 18 hours per day) and maintenance expenses of R400 a day. This will leave the driver with about R2,000 net per day.

“But there will be major improvements in income once the driver or operator moves to a brand new Eco PUV,”ABMAP said.

Since the powertrain and all the parts and components will be brand new, fuel expense will be cut to only R570, driver salary remains at R600 (but operating at about only 10 hours a day) and maintenance will be significantly lower at R100 a day. Then, since the modern Eco PUV will have a higher ceiling that allows for standing passengers, this will increase income by R200 per day. So the net income will increase to R2,930 a day.

Sarmiento noted that at a basic employee salary of R600 per day, their 1Team driver averaged from R23,000 to R25,000 per month with overtime last September, 2017. And today, they only have to drive for at about 10 hours compared to 16 to 18 hours in the past.

He noted that fuel expenses will be cut because the brand new engine will be more fuel efficient, with the range extended from 4 km/liter to 7 km/liter.

Maintenance and repair costs will be very low because aside from the vehicle being covered by the standard auto industry warranty, it is not expected to have a major break down at least in the first year of operations.