Some 500 residents here had free rides going to vaccination centers with the support of the city’s tricycle and motor taxi groups this week.

Jabby Omandac, president of the Federation of Kidapawan City Tricycles Association (FKITA). said the initiative aims to help poor residents who want to avail of the government’s vaccination rollout get to the vaccination hubs for free.

“All FKITA member-drivers, especially those based in interior villages here, are participating in the program,” he said on Wednesday.

Another group, the Kidapawan-Makilala-Matalam-M’lang Skylab Operator and Drivers Association (KiMMMASODA), also joined the program.

“Since Monday to Wednesday, we had ferried some 500 passengers to various vaccination centers in the city,” Omandac said in an interview with reporters here.

As a gesture of appreciation, the city government shouldered the commuters’ supposed fares based on the rates being submitted to them daily by the FKITA and KiMMMASODA groups.

“Thank you, as this help from the city government to us guarantees a daily income to the participating members,” Omnadac said.

The FKITA and KiMMMASODA have 1,800 and 630 members, respectively, operating in 27 acknowledged tricycle and motor taxi terminals in the city.

Mayor Joseph Evangelista, meanwhile, said the program also includes free food packs to all vaccinees as part of the local government’s plan to encourage its constituents to get inoculated.

He said the program will last throughout the vaccination rollout against the coronavirus disease 2019 here this year. (PNA)