MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has collaborated with navigation app Google Maps to help health frontliners find recommended routes to their respective hospitals where they can avail of the free bus service of the department.
The DOTr’s free service program currently offers 19 routes to help ferry medical personnel to their medical facilities during the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, which covers the ban of public transport operations in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
To know the best route using the free service program, health workers should enter their intended destination in Google Maps via app or web and tap “directions.” They should select the public transit tab or the train icon which is displayed after the car and motorcycle icons in the navigation system. Google Maps will then immediately show a recommended route which uses the routes identified by the DOTr.
Transportation Secretary Eduardo Tugade said this initiative adds to the convenience the government wants to provide to health workers at the frontlines of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
“Technology makes our lives easier. So, as we help provide our health workers with daily free rides, I am certain that partnering with digital technology will also make navigating routes the least of their worries. We want to make things easier for them, given the enormous tasks that they perform everyday,” he said.
Bernadette Nacario, director of Google Philippines, said making the routes accessible on Google Maps aims to provide convenience to the transportation needs of medical workers.
“We hope that by making the routes of the DOTr’s free rides accessible on Google Maps, we are helping provide ease and convenience to the daily transport of our frontliners,” she said.
Updates to the routes and schedules will be reflected in the service, including the addition of free shuttle services from local government units.
Routes of the DOTr free service can be viewed in this link.