Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No 744

Introduced by Hon. Joselito R. Mendoza

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The dismal traffic situation in our major thoroughfares is a perennial problem hounding our
transportation system. The government has implemented various traffic management solutions such
as the color coding, installation of yellow lines, legally affirmed RFID and other combinations of
approaches and yet, heavy traffic has not been alleviated and continues to ensue everyday.

One of the major factors that contribute to this problem is the presence of thousands of
illegally-operating public utility buses and jeepneys, or “colorum” vehicles. Efforts implemented by
the government to purge the streets of these vehicles from the sticker system to the recently
implemented Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Plan (UVVRP) to the random checking of PUVS
streets have also been ineffective. Exacerbating this problem is the lack of base data in the Land
‘Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) needed to implement effective
management schemes such as an accurate listing and count of colorum buses and jeepneys, and
estimates of volume loads per major thoroughfare. This is aggravated by the compounded manner of
vehicle inventory LTFRB has been used to.

‘According to the LTFRB, there are a total of 12,700 legitimate bus franchises - 5,332 for
Metro Manila routes and 7,368 for provincial routes- and 60,844 legitimate jeepney franchises.
Currently, there is no clear estimate on the number of colorum buses and jeepneys presently in
operation nor a count on how many have been apprehended

However, related studies of the LTFRB and of the the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) entitled “EDSA Bus Route Revalidation Survey” showed a clear discrepancy in the
official and non-official counts of the volume of bus units that pass through EDSA daily. The
discrepancy totaling to 1,200 units was attributed to the number of colorum buses unaccounted for by
the LTERB. The LTERB study showed an estimate of 3,800 units and the JICA study 5,000 units. On
August 2010, the MMDA and LTFRB pegged their estimates at 2,000 colorum buses.

In lieu of the situation, this bill seeks to revoke all existing franchises of public utility buses
and jeepneys to empower the LTFRB by giving them the capability to grant new franchises and set
new franchise fees with the end in view of removing all colorum public utility vehicles from the
National Capital Region.

In view of the foregoing, the passage of this bill is eamestly sought



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 37741.

Introduced by Hon. Joselito R. Mendoza

AN ACT
REVOKING ALL EXISTING FRANCHISES GRANTED TO OPERATORS OF PUBLIC
UTILITY BUSES AND JEEPNEY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. All existing franchises of public utility buses and jeepneys are hereby
revoked.

SECTION 2. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) shall
issue the necessary implementing rules and regulations for the grant of new franchises under an
updated fees and schedules, within sixty (60) days upon approval of this Act.

SECTION 3. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain
valid and subsisting,

SECTION 4. Repealing Clause. - The provisions of all other laws, decrees, orders, rules
or regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed accordingly.

SECTION 5. Effectivity — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete
publication in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,