Modernisation Programme Declares Victory After Final Traditional Jeepney Retires, Nation Notes That Traffic Has Not Changed and That This Was Perhaps the Key Variable
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board declared a symbolic victory Monday after the last traditional jeepney operating in Metro Manila, a 1987 Sarao model named “God’s Blessing 3” that had covered the Quiapo-Divisoria route for thirty-nine years without significant mechanical alteration, was officially retired and replaced by a modern, air-conditioned, GPS-equipped electric jeepney provided under the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernisation Programme. The retirement ceremony, attended by LTFRB officials, transport cooperative representatives, and the jeepney’s driver, Mang Renato, was described as “a historic moment for Philippine transport” by the LTFRB chairman, who conducted the proceedings standing on EDSA as forty-seven modern e-jeepneys queued motionlessly behind him for the duration of his speech, none of which he appeared to find relevant to the occasion.
Mang Renato and the Machine He Drove for Thirty-Nine Years
Mang Renato, 67, who inherited the jeepney route from his father-in-law and whose vehicle had been repainted fourteen times, re-engined twice, and fitted with what he described as “everything I could find that was good and cheap and would last,” said he had mixed feelings about the transition. He said the modern jeepney was quieter, cleaner, and considerably more comfortable than God’s Blessing 3, and that passengers seemed to prefer it. He also said the financing arrangement for the modern unit, which involved a cooperative loan, franchise fees, route bidding, and a maintenance schedule requiring parts available primarily from a depot in Caloocan, was significantly more complicated than his previous arrangement, which he summarised as “it runs, I drive it, passengers pay, I fix it when it breaks, I go home.”
“The old jeepney was mine,” Mang Renato said, sitting beside the retired vehicle which had been placed, with some ceremony, in the corner of the LTFRB compound. “I understood every part of it. This new one is better in many ways. But I am still learning who owns which part of it.” He patted the side of God’s Blessing 3. A reporter asked if he was sad. He said he was tired, which he said was different, and that the two things should not be confused.
The Modernisation Programme: Ambitions, Results, and the Traffic Question
The PUV Modernisation Programme, launched in 2017 with targets for completing the transition of all traditional jeepneys to modern units, has proceeded along a timeline that LTFRB officials describe as “adaptive” and that jeepney operators describe using a different word that also begins with A and is less complimentary. The programme aimed to eliminate traditional jeepneys from Metro Manila entirely by 2020, then 2022, then 2024, then “within the medium term,” an administrative phrase that transport lawyers say has no binding definition in Philippine regulatory language and is functionally equivalent to “eventually, circumstances permitting.”
Supporters of modernisation note that modern PUVs produce significantly lower emissions, provide better passenger comfort, and are equipped with safety technology including CCTV, dashcams, and GPS tracking that the old jeepney fleet did not have. Critics note that the programme has displaced tens of thousands of independent operators who could not afford the new units, concentrated route control in cooperatives that not all drivers trust, and has had no measurable effect on Metro Manila congestion, which they say was always the actual problem and which replacing the vehicles has not addressed because the vehicles are not the problem, the volume is the problem, and the volume has not changed.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board confirmed that as of Monday’s retirement, the modernisation programme in Metro Manila was complete. It noted that God’s Blessing 3 would be preserved as a cultural artefact. It did not address the congestion question directly but said it was “actively monitoring” the situation, which Metro Manila commuters noted was consistent with how the situation had been described for approximately thirty years.
The Asian Development Bank, which has supported Philippine transport reform efforts, noted in a statement that vehicle modernisation was one component of a comprehensive urban transport improvement framework that also required investments in road capacity, demand management, and mass transit expansion, and that no single component in isolation could resolve a congestion challenge of Metro Manila’s scale and complexity. Mang Renato, shown the ADB statement, said it sounded right to him and that he had been saying something similar for thirty-nine years in fewer words.
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God’s Blessing 3 is resting comfortably. NewsThump commutes by jeepney and refuses to modernise.
The OFW Dimension: Who Actually Funds the Jeepney Fleet and What Happens When They Retire
A dimension of the jeepney modernisation story that the official narrative has not fully addressed is the role of overseas Filipino workers in financing the traditional jeepney economy. Many traditional jeepney operators funded their units through OFW remittances — a family member abroad sends money, the family buys a jeepney, the jeepney becomes the family business and the primary income source for a household that may include six to eight dependents. This ownership structure means that the transition to cooperatively-managed modern units represents not just a change in vehicle type but a fundamental restructuring of the economic relationship between the operator, the vehicle, and the family economy it supports. Academic researchers at De La Salle University who have studied the jeepney modernisation programme note that its implementation has had “significant and underdocumented distributional effects” on the households most dependent on traditional jeepney income, particularly older operators who cannot service cooperative loans and lack the financial literacy infrastructure to navigate the new ownership arrangements. The LTFRB confirmed that a livelihood assistance programme exists for displaced operators and that applications were being processed. It did not confirm how many applications had been resolved, how many operators had received assistance, or what the average processing time was, citing data compilation timelines that it said were ongoing.