The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Western Visayas (LTFRB-6) has reopened five routes that will add 53 more units of modernized jeepneys in the city.

As of Friday, the LTFRB-6 has given transport operators until Feb. 20 to submit a letter of intent and qualification documents, which will be opened on the same date.

“Qualified applicants may be selected more than one route and subsequently processed for the grant of Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) following applicable provisions of Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2019-013,” the agency said in its notice.

MC 2019-013 provides the consolidated guidelines on the process of the issuance of CPC and provisional authority/special permit under the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines and Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

The routes to be reopened include the Paglaum Village-Libertad Market; Alangilan-Burgos Market, Bredco Port-Northbound Terminal via San Juan St.; and Pahanocoy-Bacolod Government Center via Circumferential Road, which has been assigned 10 units each, while the Dona Juliana-Central Market loop will have 13 units.

Some 350 units of modernized jeepneys have been plying the streets here as of the first week of February.

Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the number could reach 500 by March 31, but he acknowledged the need to provide provisional authority to traditional jeepneys since the existing modern jeepney units could not yet meet the public transport requirements of Bacolodnons.

About 25 routes have been identified in the city’s Local Public Transport Route Plan, which already needs to be reviewed by the City Council, Benitez said. (PNA)