DOTR Defends Proposal to Increase Public Transport Capacity to 100 Percent

The decision to drastically increase passenger capacity in public transportation is backed by medical evidence, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Tuesday. 

The DOTr has already submitted a formal position paper to increase seating capacity in public transportation from 50 percent to 100 percent and says it is based on available medical literature.

“We are ready to defend our position to IATF this Thursday,” Transportation Assistant Secretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Steve Pastor said.

Pastor cited studies from Vietnam that show “that reliance on complete face mask use and partial hand sanitizer use were proven enough to contain three very modest Covid-19 waves while preserving normal bus services.” 

He also cited a Chinese study that found that passengers in high-risk zones—or seats in the same row with an infected passenger and within three rows—had moderate but not significantly higher risk. Meanwhile, an Oxford study said that “rigid” safe distancing rules are an oversimplification based on outdated science and experiences of past viruses. 

The DOTr said it has also conducted a rapid analysis of available data on COVID-19 cases and public transport capacity covering 10 countries: Philippine, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Australia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

“Transport capacity has no significant correlation with the number of Covid-19 cases,” the study revealed. 

The recommendation to increase public transport capacity to 100 percent is intended to be implemented first in Metro Manila, which has so far logged 81.4 percent of residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The transport agency is also pushing to increase the seating capacity in public transportation to help the industry recover from the effects of the pandemic, not to mention record increases in oil prices.

Pastor noted, however, that the final decision still rests on the IATF. 

“This is not just a matter of public transportation but also a matter of public health,” he said.