Commuter group urges govt to allow Metro carpooling
WHILE the mass transportation systems in the Philippines remain inadequate and inefficient, the government should promote the practice of carpooling among individuals and should stop apprehending them, a commuter group said on Thursday.
The Passenger Forum Convenor Primo Morillo said the government should formulate guidelines to allow carpooling in the Philippines to work. Regulations, he said, should come in once the status quo on public transit has been addressed.
“Our idea is to provide guidelines on carpooling, as it is not explicitly prohibited by our laws,” he said in a phone interview. “There needs to be a guideline to ensure that carpooling will not be abused.”
Carpooling is the practice of hitching a ride with either a friend, a family member or even a stranger. Usually, the passengers and the driver split the cost of gas for a ride.
“During the first phase, we think it is best to be more liberal on carpooling in order to popularize it. Once we achieved efficient and sufficient public transportation, we can regulate carpooling by requiring at least one of the passengers to have a driver’s license,” Morillo said.
The BusinessMirror sought for comments from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic, but officials have yet to reply as of writing.
“We have received reports on social media that there are operations against colorum vehicles, and the officers are also apprehending people practicing carpooling,” Morillo said. “For us, we think the government should have full support on carpooling because it removes one person from the already-crammed public transportation.”
He also noted that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority last year even suggested carpooling, especially during the time when it was campaigning for the implementation of a “driver-only car-ban.”
“We are hoping that the LTFRB agrees with us that carpooling helps in easing traffic. As such, apprehending carpoolers is counterproductive to our objective of lessening private cars on the road,” he said. “We are also hoping that they will be as empathic to carpoolers as they are to motorcycle taxi riders.”