January 23, 2022 – United Negros Transport Cooperative (UNETCO) conducted its vehicle blessing, ribbon cutting, and launching of its 97 Class 2 FAW Modernized Public Utility Vehicle (MPUV) units, at the Central Hall, Ayala Malls Capitol Central.

30 out of 97 MPUV units are now delivered in the city and are still waiting for the incoming 67 units to arrive.

A motorcade caravan event and an official ribbon cutting ceremony were conducted by UNETCO Chairperson Romelie Soliguen, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Region VI Director Richard Osmeña, and Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) Region VI Dir. Nora Patron.

“Mayor [Albee Benitez] expresses his full support and heartfelt gratitude for this pursuit for modernization…” Councilor Psyche Marie Sy, stated in delivering the inspirational message on behalf of the city mayor.

“…it is great to see more modernized jeepneys on the road. So it’s time for Bacolod, a highly urbanized city, to be a model for clean and efficient transportation.” Sy added.

Here are the 6 Routes that was awarded by the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) to UNETCO:

Shopping – Libertad – USLS route, awarded with 16 units; while 18 units each for Shopping – Libertad – San Agustin route and Handumanan – Mansilingan – Libertad route; and 15 units each for Tangub – South Capitol Road Route, Taculing – Central Market Route, and Banago – Libertad Route for a total of 97 units.

The transport group is currently installing a fleet management system to the said units in order to monitor the routes and operations of the MPUVs in the event that there are only 30 units available.

For now, 5 units have been distributed among the 6 awarded routes, and a possible dry-run operation will be conducted this week.

QSJ Visayas Manager Elmer Apondar, Huang Xi – General Manager of FAW Philippines, and Ma Luisita Chiu – Assistant Vice President, Land Bank of the Philippines conducted the turn-over ceremony of the 97 MUJV units to the UNETCO Board of Directors and Chairperson.

“Finally, a dream come true for UNETCO… the launching of the 97 MUJV’s delivers a strong signal of courage and decisiveness of those who opted to take the challenge of public transport…” Osmeña stated in his speech.

“Slowly but surely we are showing the public that our partnership among the local government, the transport operators, and our [LTFRB] office is strong and working tirelessly to make transport transferred into modernization reality” he added.

UNETCO is a composition of 3 Transport Federation in Bacolod City such as United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC), Federation of Bacolod Drivers Association (FEBACDA), Sentrong Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Negros Occidental (SSTON) and soon to operate a total of 293 MUJV units in the city.

Currently, there are 203 modernized jeepneys plying the streets of Bacolod and 155 more units will be launched by February, LTFRB reports.
(Source: Bacolod City Public Information Office)