METRO RESIDENTS SEEK BUSES FOR WORKERS – POLL

METRO Manila residents urged President Rodrigo Duterte to mobilize government- owned transportation for some workers allowed TO RETURN DURING THE MODIfiED ENHANCED COMMUNITY QUARANTINE (MECQ).

A recent online survey of some 1,000 Metro Manila residents done by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. showed that 89 percent of respondents agreed that government-controlled buses and other shuttle services should be provided in the absence of public transportation. Only 11 percent of the respondents disapproved.

The government is encouraging the private sector to provide shuttles for employees who will return to work under the MECQ.

“The lack of public transportation options during the MECQ will make

it difficult for workers to report to their physical places of employment unless they own a car or motorcycle. This would defeat the purpose of reopening certain sectors of the economy in the first place,” said Aureli Sinsuat, PUBLiCUS executive director and spokesman.

Sinsuat said the national government and Metro Manila local government units should consider providing government-controlled buses or shuttles for workers under the MECQ.

“The idea of providing governmentcontrolled transportation during the quarantine is a popular one among our Metro Manila panelists. It also makes sense from a policy perspective. Governmentoperated buses and shuttles would give workers critical access to transportation and allow authorities to strictly enforce physical distancing and other health measures on board,” he said.

“It is doubtful that the private sector will be able to serve 100 percent of the demand of their employees for home- to- work shuttles. This is why the government should seriously consider stepping in if it wants the shift to MECQ and partial reopening of the NCR (National Capital Region or Metro Manila) economy to succeed,” he added.

The NCR Covid-19 Online Panel Survey is an independent non-commissioned tracking survey designed by PUBLiCUS and VOX Opinion Research (VOX). The survey data was processed and analyzed by VOX, the in-house strategic research arm of PUBLiCUS.

The survey aims to gauge public opinion and perceptions on the following Covid- 19- related key indicators: Living Standards and Needs during the Enhanced Community Quarantine; National Government Performance; Local Government Performance; Media and Foreign Institutions; and Existing/Proposed Covid-19 Policies.

The online fieldwork for all three runs of the survey ( April 2 to 6; April 13 to 18; May 5 to 8) was conducted in partnership with Kantar (formerly Lightspeed Research Singapore), which provided an online panel of 1,000 Metro Manila residents aged 18 to 70 from its pool of 100,000 Philippine panelists. The number of respondents per city was distributed proportionally based on official population data.

Kantar is a leading firm in the global data industry with a panel reach of 88 million respondents in 90 markets worldwide.