"Can E-Jeepneys solve Manila’s transport woes?"

[ghosthunter]

Can E-Jeepneys solve Manila’s transport woes?
Words by Niky Tamayo | Photos courtesy of Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities - ICSC



It may seem hard to believe, considering the state of the economy, but there are now nearly seven million motor vehicles registered in the Philippines. While the sheer numbers should make for greater mobility and productivity for our workforce, there is the little issue of all those vehicles being on the road at the exact same time, causing massive traffic jams. As they still burn fuel when sitting still in traffic, this situation costs us billions of Pesos every year in oil imports, as well as cause massive air pollution. And that's where the E-Jeepney comes in.

At a recent open forum on alternative fuel vehicles, various speakers and interest groups got together to discuss the future of transport. A timely topic, considering volatile oil prices, and an unsure supply. Senator Ralph Recto served as the keynote speaker, being the sponsor of Senate Bill 2846 - a bill that seeks to grant tax breaks and registration bonuses to importers and assemblers of electric and alternative fuel vehicles. If passed, the bill should drop EV (electric vehicle) prices by 20 to 25%. This measure should come as a relief for the operators of the E-Jeepney Transport Corporation (EJTC), as they’ve been trying to get a break for years....

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[uls]

like i said before if you put X number of ejeepneys on the road but don't eliminate a corresponding number of diesel PUJ that's adding more vehicles on the road na pandagdag sa traffic... kahit electric pa mga yan. they still take up space

[uls]

ban diesel PUJs and replace all of them with ejeepneys

[niky]

One thing to note... the Jeep in the publicity photo is still the first-generation. The new E-Jeep is longer and a quite a bit wider...

[uls]

Senator Ralph Recto served as the keynote speaker, being the sponsor of Senate Bill 2846 - a bill that seeks to grant tax breaks and registration bonuses to importers and assemblers of electric and alternative fuel vehicles. If passed, the bill should drop EV (electric vehicle) prices by 20 to 25%.

so if ejeepney prices drop by 20 to 25% jeepney operators will scrap their diesel PUJs and replace them with ejeepneys?

[niky]

so if ejeepney prices drop by 20 to 25% jeepney operators will scrap their diesel PUJs and replace them with ejeepneys?

At the very least, it'll be an incentive to buy them as opposed new jeeps... even if takers will be few.

ban diesel PUJs and replace all of them with ejeepneys

That's the problem. Wala tayong "planned obsolescence" in terms of motor vehicles.

With taxis, since they're a "luxury" public utility, at least the Government was able to pass "rolling coffin" laws to force turnover of taxi units.

But with Jeeps, this would be "anti-poor". Right now, (pulling statistics out of thin air) 99% of our Jeepneys are old and decrepit. And even the new ones I see aren't being made by good manufacturers like Sarao or Lawin or etcetera, but cobbled together bits of secondhand junk and rusting galvanized iron slathered with primer, powered by oil-eating, water-drinking decrepit diesel engines that are one blown gasket away from being paperweights.

If we don't enforce road-worthiness codes and force the retirement of old, unsafe, soon-to-fall-in-half diesel jeepneys, then we stand no hope of getting them off the street.

Yeah, anti-masa sentiment. But the masa are the people riding the jeeps. Not the jeepney owners. You're a business operator. You have a duty to your customers to provide them good service.

[jay2]

Hope that the LGU's will no longer extend the franchise of the diesel jeepneys specially the short routes and open it up to e-jeepneys.

[ghosthunter]

Hope that the LGU's will no longer extend the franchise of the diesel jeepneys specially the short routes and open it up to e-jeepneys.

two words... political will. Or more to the point, the lack of political will. Any politician who wants to get re-elected will never ever do this.