The enhanced Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) of the city government here has already received a green light from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Public Safety and Transportation Management Office head Jeck Conlu on Friday said they have seen the advance copy signed by LTFRB chief, Atty. Teofilo Guadiz III, but still awaiting for the transmittal of the official copy of the document.

“We need to wait for the official transmittal to be turned over and conform by Mayor Jerry P. Treñas. Once it is turned over, (the) mayor will endorse it to the city council for the amendment of our original LPTRP,” he said in an interview on Friday.

Conlu said they expect to receive the document within the month or next week.

The LPTRP contains the detailed routes and their corresponding mode of transportation that will serve as the basis for the PUV franchises.

The enhanced LPTRP has designed 25 routes from the previous 24 in the original plan.

“We are ready to implement. The routes that are being served now are almost the same route so there is no big adjustment once it implemented,” he said.

Currently, there are 280 modernized jeepneys plying the city streets that are still augmented by traditional jeepneys.

At the end of the year, around 50 to 60 percent of the 1,767 modernized jeepneys as provided in the LPTRP are expected to operate.

Conlu added that provincial jeepneys, particularly those from members of the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council, are still allowed to enter the city even though the enhanced plan is already implemented.

Whether or not they will stop will depend on the LPTRP of the province of lloilo, he said.

Provincial Planning and Development Office head of the provincial government Mario Nillos, in a press briefing on Thursday afternoon, said the provincial LPTRP is now with the regional office.

Nillos said the province’s LPTRP is complementary to that of the city’s route plan. (PNA)