PUV modernization helps set the pace of Tacloban development.

Transport crisis in Tacloban City opens opportunity for modern public rides.

TACLOBAN CITY — When the government decided to launch the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) in the Leyte capital on 23 January 2018, it was both symbolic and a necessity — symbolic in a way that solar jeepneys can help reduce carbon emission that causes climate change, and a necessity as it came at a time when the city was in a transport crisis.

Tacloban City at that time was facing its biggest problem — how to convince people living along the danger zone to relocate to the northern barangays, while at the same time redesign the city in such a way that people are resilient to climate disturbances that have become a perennial problem.

The PUVMP did not only solve the crisis, but it defined the pace of the city’s recovery from the devastation of typhoon “Yolanda” up to the developments that are happening now.

A flagship program of the Duterte administration, the PUVMP envisions a restructured, modern, well-managed and environmentally sustainable transport sector where drivers and operators have “stable, sufficient and dignified livelihoods while commuters get to their destinations quickly, safely and comfortably.”

“We launched in Tacloban because of the many complaints reaching the President that people could not be relocated to the northern barangays because there was no public transport. There was no player willing to take it, because it was considered a missionary route,” Ronald Laurel, managing director of Star 8 Green Technology Corp, said.

While the government and non-government organizations were building houses at that time, most of the structures were left empty, creating ghost towns for a number of months due to the reluctance of the beneficiaries to transfer due to the lack of services, primarily transportation.

For businesswoman Mabel Trinidad who lost five relatives to “Yolanda,” transferring her family to the northern outskirts of the city was like receiving a death sentence — it would not only end her buy-and-sell business but the education of her children would suffer as well.

“My friends were telling me that there were only four jeepney trips going to those areas every day. How can I bring my goods to sell? How will the children go to school?” she said, recalling the reason for her reluctance to abandon her house along the coastal Magallanes Street.

When President Rodrigo Duterte visited the relocation site in 2016, the problem on the lack of transportation was persistently raised prompting him to order the deployment of six buses to bring students and workers to and from the city.

It was not enough for the increasing number of people being relocated to permanent housing units.

In the year that followed, a company called Solartech Transport came in with a fleet of solar-powered vehicles to service the transport needs in the northern villages, which was then considered a “missionary route.”

“When the solar jeepneys started plying to Tagpuro and we saw that there is a reliable transportation now, it was the time when we decided to transfer to our relocation house,” said Trinidad. Tagpuro is the last northern barangay of Tacloban.

She added that the presence of solar jeepneys dramatically lessened the resistance of many residents along the designated “no-build zone” to move to the permanent government relocation site. “There are few houses left now along our coastal community because people are agreeing to be relocated,” she said.

For Rio Garcia, a student and a long-time resident of Barangay Buhi, the entry of solar jeepneys did not only bring a huge number of people to his community, but changed his normal practices as well.

Garcia said he prefers taking the solar jeepney than a multi-cab that also plies the route because of the comfort that it gives.

“It is not crowded unlike a multi-cab and the fare is the same,” he said

“Before, we have to be at the terminal by 4 o’clock in the afternoon to catch the last trip. But now I can still roam around the mall until closing time without the fear of missing the trip,” he said. “We used to wait for many hours because the driver would not leave until it is full even up to the roof.”