JEEPNEY drivers and operators in the country have vowed to launch more strikes in 2024 even after the deadline to modernise the iconic passenger vehicles lapsed on the last day of 2023.
“This January 2024, we will continue our strikes to fight for the rights of jeepney drivers and operators,” Mody Floranda, national president of a jeepney drivers and operators group, told a local newspaper.
The elongated, flatbed passenger jeepney is the most popular mode of public transport in the Philippines. But critics say the vehicle has become a tarnished icon, symbolising the country’s technological backwardness and inability to adapt to the times.
A national plan to remove the jeepneys from the road, especially from Metro Manila’s gridlocked streets, has been ongoing, stirring a fresh debate on the fate of the iconic jeepneys chugging along the roads since the 1950s.
As part of the modernisation program, jeepneys older than 10 years were required to be removed from roads, while drivers and operators were required to join transport cooperatives before Dec 31, 2023 or no longer be allowed to operate. — Xinhua
