QC, Camanava LGUs contingency plans minimized transport strike impact

QC, Camanava LGUs contingency plans minimized transport strike impact

March 9, 2023 @ 12:22 PM 3 weeks ago


THE various contingency plans that were laid down by the top officials in Quezon City and four other local government units  in northern Metro Manila had effectively minimized the impact of the transport strike.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said the Traffic and Transport Management Department placed service bus units on standby for deployment to areas with a high number of stranded passengers.

The barangays used their service vehicles to provide free rides in their turfs, she said.

“I also asked the Quezon City Schools Division Office to conduct asynchronous classes throughout the week, noting that this is doable given the tablets issued by the city government to public school students. Private schools could also implement on-line classes depending on their discretion,” she stressed.

Finally, the city encouraged businesses, where doable, to allow work-from-home arrangements for employees.

Navotas Mayor John Rey Tiangco said we had provided free shuttle services to Navoteños. Our crisis management team had met and set plans to counter the impact of the activity on our constituents’ work schedules and daily routines.

Aside from the vehicles of the city government, the 18 villages had also committed to utilize their service vehicles to provide free rides within Navotas, he said.

In Valenzuela, Mayor Wes Gatchalian said they utilized all their vehicles to provide transportation for public commuters despite assurance from several associations of jeepney operators and drivers in the city that they wouldn’t join.

“With the support of local transport groups and deployment of more vehicles, traveling within the city wasn’t a problem during the transport strike. But we still prepared plans to fill the gaps for possible disturbances.”

Caloocan Mayor Along Malapitan said that some vehicles were deployed throughout the duration of the jeepney strike.

“We also prioritized the areas that would possibly be heavily affected by the strike and identified the route and the pick-up and drop-off points of our free rides.”

Malapitan said all private and public schools in the city were urged to conduct week-long online classes for all levels in lieu of face-to-face classes.

He likewise ordered the city police chief, PCol. Ruben Lacuesta, to increase the police visibility in major thoroughfares and implement maximum tolerance.

Malabon Mayor Jeannie Sandoval said the city government had recommended to the private companies and institutions to have a skeleton force or rotating assignment of their workers so that they would not be directly affected.

“We also had maximized our buses and trucks to help ferry affected commuters inside and outside the city routes.”

At the duration of the transport strike, we had recommended online or modular mode of classes to all levels both from public and private schools.”