The city government here deployed at least 13 service vehicles to ferry stranded residents due to limited public transport after jeepneys without franchise for failure to comply with the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) stopped plying their routes on Monday.

Since morning, hundreds of commuters were left without means of transportation as only more than 100 modern jeepneys and several traditional jeeps were operating in the city without the risk of being apprehended by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The city government dispatched five office vehicles, two buses, and two rescue vehicles, as well as three vans and a dump truck from the barangays.

Also, four villages deployed their vehicles to transport their residents while a local private company also provided a bus for stranded passengers.

According to the LTO-Western Visayas, only 1,033 PUVs should be allowed to ply the streets of Bacolod, but the number of those operating has actually reached up to 3,000 at some point.

In an interview, Renato Novero, chief transportation regulation officer of LTO Bacolod District Office, said the flagging down of motor vehicles to check their registration documents is a usual operation of the LTO.

“It’s ordinary course of business for us in the LTO. We do this everyday,” he added.

Although this time, they deputized the trained personnel of the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office to check the business permits issued to the owners of PUJs.

They issue citation tickets to those that cannot present a business permit, Novero said.

As of posting time, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has yet to issue a statement on the city’s transport situation even as the three major local transport groups– Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association, United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, and Sentrong Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Negros– said they will discuss their concerns with him. (PNA)