It has been more than 100 days since the country’s lockdown due to the COVID 19 virus pandemic and if there is one sector that has really felt the brunt of the lockdown, it is our jeepney drivers whose lifeblood is basically linked to what they earn daily in the streets. With the jeepneys banned from our cities for this long period, it is these drivers who are among the most affected groups that need every bit of help. So it is a welcome move that the city where I live, Quezon City, has embarked on a program to reach out to our jeepney drivers through LalaJeep — a new type of delivery service that makes use of the iconic Philippine jeepney.
From June 15 to August 15, customers will see LalaJeep as a new delivery type on the Lalamove app, just in between the motorcycle and the 300kg delivery services. LalaJeep will only be available in Quezon City during the project duration and aimed primarily to help displaced jeepney drivers who lost work during this community quarantine period. In a statement released by Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, she said that it is the jeepney drivers that are directly affected by the community quarantine. “This LalaJeep program is a welcome initiative which will provide alternative livelihood for them. We are grateful to Lalamove for piloting this program in Quezon City.”
In a sense, LalaJeep combines the much-needed transportation service for many Pinoys particularly the elderly and those with health conditions who have to remain confined to their homes together with the support for our embattled jeepney drivers whose precarious economic situation has worsened due to lack of income. Moreover, LalaJeep will also provide more affordable options for business owners who are heavily reliant on the delivery app as they move essential goods and shift their business online and delivery-enabled to adapt to the new norm. As most Pinoy households have their own tech-savvy (young) members adept at maneuvering the internet highway, LalaJeep is just a click away and service quality is assured by the QC government, nonetheless.
The program has started with around 200 jeepney drivers who have volunteered to be part of the LalaJeep fleet. The Quezon City government facilitated group training sessions to help jeepney drivers onboard the delivery app.
But it is not just the jeepney drivers in which the mayor of QC acted proactively. In anticipation of the renewal of partial public transport service in Metro Manila by June 22, Mayor Joy has issued a set of guidelines to keep public buses/ AUVs safe for commuters, specifically: a) recommended restrictions such as 50 percent passenger capacity; b) non-permeable transparent barriers should be installed; and c) the strict observance of the “no face mask, no ride policy.”
The guidelines also stated that taxis and car type transport network vehicles may only have a maximum of three passengers, one beside the driver and two at the back. Tricycles may also operate but shall only have one passenger. And that prior to operating, all drivers covered in these rules are required to undergo health screening at any health center to determine whether they should be tested for Covid-19 and to ensure that they are fit to work.
Speaking of the June 22 public transportation reopening, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is opening the entire 31 rationalized routes to ease the lack of public transportation under the general community quarantine (GCQ). All public utility buses, including city and provincial buses, are set to resume their operations on the second phase of the public transportation resumption from June 22 to 30 as part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) “calibrated, partial, and in phases” approach on allowing public transport to ply the roads again.
Needless to say, this is a welcome move on behalf of our harried commuters who, for weeks now have struggled hard just to get to their places of work and again, back home.
One stirring lesson from this pandemic lockdown is how essential is public transportation to our society, in our life as a nation — to resume our normal activities under this new environment. For this, I would like to quote Albay Rep. Joey Salceda who called for the resumption of all public transportation saying that “as long as we can maintain minimum health standards, we should allow people to move… until transport can be made operational, the economy will not fully recover. People are the driving force of the economy, and if people find it hard to move, the economy will likewise find it hard to get going.”
Moving forward, it is essential then that we all must work together to get our public transportation, and of course our jeepneys, back on the road again.
The author may be reached at [email protected].