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Josiah Antonio - The Philippine Star
April 11, 2026 | 12:00am
Photos show passenger jeepneys at a terminal in Quezon City on April 10, 2026.
Michael Varcas
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has requested an additional P5-billion budget for the net service contracting program for public utility vehicles (PUVs), Secretary Giovanni Lopez said yesterday as the current P1-billion budget set to be rolled out by April 15 will only last for two to three weeks.
The current P1 billion will be divided into P800 million for road transport and P200 million for maritime transport. Around 1,000 transport operators and 50,000 PUV units will benefit from the program, along with 15 million daily passengers.
The DOTr has sent a request letter to the Department of Budget and Management with a brekdown of the budget.
“We asked for an additional P5 billion to extend this program and I know we have already written to DBM and will be released today because we need to put the other routes and the other beneficiaries,” Lopez said.
He also encouraged local government units to follow suit in providing free rides through the service contracting program, setting examples like Marikina, Manila and Quezon City, among others.
DOTr will implement a net service contracting scheme where operators receive payments based on kilometers traveled but still collect fares from passengers.
In the EDSA Busway, bus drivers and operators will receive P100 per kilometer. With a roundtrip distance of 20 kms, a bus can only benefit from around three trips. Traditional jeepneys will get P30 per km while modern jeepneys will get P40 per km.
Regular commuters will get a 20 percent discount on their fares.
Transport worker beneficiaries will have a limit of 100 kms per day which will be monitored manually or through GPS. They may apply through the onboarding process set by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board starting yesterday.
The LTFRB will release today the official routes included in the program.
Senior citizens, persons with disabilities and students will get a 20 percent discount on top of their discounted fares.
Around 825 routes nationwide will benefit from the program, including 545 from Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal. Units under the program will have tarpaulins and posters attached to their vehicles and matrices of discounted fares. — Helen Flores, Jose Rodel Clapano
