Complaints about public transportation will no longer go unheeded, as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has put up new hotlines manned by a contact center around the clock.
On Monday, the LTFRB launched their 24/7 nationwide hotlines: 1342 for calls, and 0917-550-1342 and 0998-550-1342 for SMS.
These will replace the old localized hotlines directly manned by the LTFRB personnel, which have already been terminated.
The third-party contact center services for the new hotlines will be provided by Dynamic Outsource Solutions Inc. under a P5-million yearlong contract recently bid out by the LTFRB, said LTFRB chair Winston Ginez.
“We want to bring the LTFRB closer to the people. We want them to truly feel our mission to provide safe and convenient [public transportation], and to feel that the government is really listening to them,” Ginez said, in an interview with the media at the sidelines of the launch.
Aside from responding to complaints and grievances, the contact centers will respond to inquiries about any services rendered by the LTFRB, or clarifications on policies of the board, according to Ginez.
The hotlines can even be used for citizen reports. “We are encouraging the public to be on citizen patrol in reporting erring public utility vehicle drivers violating traffic rules and regulations. Our citizens are assured that someone will take their calls so immediate action can be taken,” Ginez said, in a statement.
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This early, Ginez expects that the call center will be “flooded” with inquiries. LTFRB board member Ariel Inton said that on Monday alone, the contact center already received 25 complaints.
“In 2014, we received 10,000 complaints [via phone and other platforms such as e-mail and Twitter]. Seventy percent of that was about taxis. The top complaints were of [drivers’] refusal to convey and rude behavior,” Ginez said.
But at the hotlines launch, PUV operators and transport groups, such as taxi operator and Quezon city councilor Bong Suntay, raised concerns about “frivolous” complainants, who would not bother to pursue their reported cases, or who might just abuse the hotlines.
Ginez urged affected passengers to attend the LTFRB hearings on their complaints as well. “We want to encourage citizens not to stop at just texting, calling or sending in photos. If you have the time, we hope you can attend the hearings, as well. We’ll make it very simple. We’d just need to see your face, confirm your identity, get your signature, that’s it,” Ginez said.
For their part, Dynamic Outsource Solutions Inc. Gary Cayton assured drivers and operators that at the very least, their systems would detect and trace prank callers.