By DANNY O SAGUN
PIA Dagupan Infocenter

OPERATORS of colorum vehicles particularly vans can now apply for legalization at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

Started last month, the program seeks to legalize the operations of public utility vehicles including vans that are used to transport passengers on a “point to point” system, according to administrative officer Minerva Ducusin of the regional office of LTFRB in a radio interview.

She said that as monitored by their office, about 70 percent of vans servicing various routes in Region l were found to be operating illegally.

In Dagupan City, the former Pantranco terminal has been serving as departure point for several routes. Some gasoline stations in other sections of the city also serve as terminals for other route.

Ducusin told the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan-DZMQ that vehicle owners will pay P10,600 to legalize their operations aside from other expenses like insurance for passengers and vehicle registration with the Land Transportation Office for the change in registration status from private to public utility vehicle (PUV).

Commuters risk lives and limbs and would be deprived of any compensation in case of accidents involving private vehicles, she noted.

Ducusin said she herself chooses yellow-plated passenger vans when she commutes daily from her residence to office.

Vans for the last five years or so have become popular means of transport replacing minibuses except for the Dagupan-San Fernando (La Union) and Dagupan-Camiling routes, which are still serviced actively by minibuses. There are now only a few bus units plying the once-vibrant Dagupan-Alaminos line.

Apparently, the bus operators themselves changed their units into vans for lesser maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, operators of downtown Dagupan jeepneys with existing or expired franchises may now be allowed to ply that route again with the relaxing of an earlier policy by the city to limit the number of units servicing the route to ease traffic congestion.

Ducusin said that the city thru a resolution has asked LTFRB to allow operators with existing franchises to ply the route anew and for those with expired franchises to renew such with the agency. She stressed that no new franchises however will be issued for that route.

Some 300 units used to ply the downtown route. The city scaled down the number to 200 by asking LTFRB not to renew those operators with expiring franchises. They were asked instead to realign their franchises and ply other routes.