Technology firm Global Electric Transport or GET wants to complement the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Plan by offering its technological expertise in manufacturing efficient and environment-friendly modern mini-buses.

In an interview on Daily Tribune’s digital show Straight Talk on Tuesday, GET president Freddie Tinga said there is a need to optimize the power of technology to address pollution and traffic problems.

“We have vehicles that can easily fit 30 passengers. We’ve got a seating capacity of 20 with about 10 to 15 standing. As you can see, it’s got a slot for people with disabilities in a wheelchair there. We’ve also got a ramp that comes out of the vehicle,” Tinga said.

Tinga said GET’s fully electric vehicles can run for over 100 kilometers on a full charge — that’s five round trips from Baclaran to Monumento.

GET has established several charging stations in the metro following successful partnerships with SM Supermalls and Ayala Malls. The GET electric mini buses are also designed to allow a so-called dump charging that lets other units charge from another.

“We’ve got 65 units now on the road and most of our clients are corporate shuttles. This week, we will be signing for another 145 units with a client. On top of these, we are finalizing a deal that involves about 170 units,” Tinga said.

The unit is called Comet which stands for GET’s City Optimized, Managed Electric Transport.

With over 300 units ready for deployment, GET is eyeing to increase the number of its vehicles plying metro roads to 480 units before the year ends.

Total service

According to Tinga, the company offers fleet management, fare management, and maintenance repair, among other things. This is to ensure that the company will be involved in ensuring that their units will run long-term.

While GET units are equipped with the best features, Tinga admitted that their vehicles were quite expensive.

“Our approach is very different from the traditional vehicle suppliers — it’s really expensive at around P4.5 million per vehicle,” he said.

It can be recalled that the high cost of the modern public utility vehicle is among the reasons why transport groups are strongly opposed to the PUVMP.

But Tinga explained that of the posted price of P4.5 million, Comet will be sold for only P2.5 million upfront. The rest will be equity for the unit to be repaid on a revenue-sharing basis.

Also, while on repayment period, GET will make sure the unit is in perfect operating condition.

However, to encourage more drivers to switch, the Department of Transportation said it will increase its subsidy per modern unit to P260,000 from the previous P160,000. The move will help provide a financial cushion to stakeholders acquiring new units.

The agency also said it has tapped private banks to provide cooperatives easy access to financial grants.

To date, about 180,000 jeepney units are plying streets across the country. Yet, only 6,000 units, or about 3.33 percent of the total number, are modernized.