(Fijitimes) MANILA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Brightly painted Jeepney public transport trucks are an iconic symbol of the Philippines, but minibus firm boss Freddie Hernandez backs plans to force them off the road.
He was among the first transport operators to comply with government orders to phase out the beloved but elderly utility vehicles and replace them with safer, greener buses.
“We saw the benefits of modernising our units in terms of reducing their carbon emissions,” said Hernandez, the chair of a transport service cooperative in Metro Manila, an urban sprawl of 16 cities.
“If the environment benefits from it, the public will benefit from it as well in the long run.”
Other public transport leaders, however, say the programme is saddling them with unmanageable costs and will upend the livelihood of some 61,000 traditional jeepney drivers, as they face a looming deadline to modernise their fleets… Read More
