The deployment of UV Express units today (Monday) will not push through because the routes are still being determined by the Department of Transportation, road sector consultant Alberto Suansing said on Sunday.
But the modern jeepneys will be allowed on the roads.
"Hindi pa natin papatakbuhin ang mga UV Express dahil inaayos pa natin ang kanilang ruta," Suansing told Dobol B sa News TV.
He said UV Express units should operate point-to-point.
The modern jeepneys, however, are good to go.
"Yung mga modern jeepney, identified na ang mga ruta nila at maari na silang tumakbo bukas," Suansing said.
Curfew lifted
Public utility vehicles no longer have to worry about curfews after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases affirmed the exemption of PUVs from the curfew ordinances under Resolution 47.
Only non-workers in the areas placed under the modified enhanced community quarantine, general community quarantine and the modified general community quarantine will be covered by the curfew.
"[Local government units] are enjoined to enact the necessary ordinances to enforce curfew only for non-workers in jurisdiction placed under MECQ, GCQ, and MGCQ to penalize, in a fair and humane manner, violations of the restrictions on the movement of people as provided under these Omnibus Guidelines,” the resolution read.
Allow back riders
Senator Bong Go on Sunday called on the government to study the proposals to allow motorcycle back riders because of the shortage of public transportation.
He urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases to look into the proposed guidelines and determine the health and safety protocols needed to be in place in permitting motorcycle back-riders.
He also appealed to commuters to comply with the health and safety guidelines to be implemented.
Jeepneys backed
Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro on Sunday supported the call of jeepney drivers and transport groups to return to the road.
She blamed the Inter-Agency Task Force and the Department of Transportation for the income loss of the jeepney drivers for the past 78 working days due to the ban. She said the least they could do was to send them back to the roads.
"We deplore the continuing ban on the jeepneys on the roads,” Castro said.
“Jeepney drivers have been sacrificing 78 days of earnings because of this ban by the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force and the Department of Transportation, with little to no aid provided to them by the government.”