Transportation officials will now have to walk in commuters’ shoes — or more precisely, ride in their jeeps, buses, and trains.

Starting this week, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has ordered its officials to commute to the office at least once a week to find immediate solutions to improve the daily travel experience.

In a memorandum released on Monday, Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez directed officials from the road and rail sectors to use public transport regularly.

“These officials of ours in the Road and Rail sector, they are really the ones who should be going out regularly because most of our projects are in these sectors,” Lopez said.

“As for the other officials in other sectors, we are also encouraging them to commute because this is really the only way to see and feel firsthand the difficulties that commuters are experiencing,” he added.

Officials are also required to submit reports after their commuting experience, including recommendations and an action plan on how to improve public transportation.

Lopez himself joined passengers during Monday morning’s rush hour, commuting to the office to observe the situation and interact with commuters.