Free rides in Puerto Princesa City lauded

Free ride for residents of Puerto Princesa City. Photo courtesy of Celeste Anna Formoso

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) lauded the city government here for its “service to the public” by providing free rides to the city residents.

Transportation assistant secretary Alberto Suansing said in a phone interview Wednesday that the subsidy program enacted by the city government is a “good move” to look out for its people, who are returning to work after more than a month of hiatus due to the enhanced community quarantine imposed on March 14.

“What they did is good because people are just now returning (to work), and at least the burden of having no means of public transport is no longer their worry,” he said.

This, after the City Council on Monday, passed the Transport Subsidy Program providing P500 daily cash assistance and free fuel to select drivers and operators.

“The intention was to subsidize the fare, and to divide the routes (throughout the city) to accommodate the passengers,” said councilor Victor Oliveros, majority floor leader of the City Council, in an earlier statement.

The free rides for public utility vehicles, including jeepneys and multicabs, would run from May 5 until May 15 or until the end of the general community quarantine.

The city government has allocated P5.5 million for the subsidy program.

LZB