One of the struggles of commuters this Christmas season is the abundance of choosy drivers who either refuse to give them a ride or demand enormous amount of money just to make the trip possible. The LTO does not want any commuters to go through the hassle, which is why they are on the hunt against choosy drivers this Christmas.

Dubbed “Oplan Pasaway”, LTO’s planned operations earned the green light from the LTFRB and aims to deploy its personnels to malls and other usual places of convergence in Metro Manila and other urban areas to run after colorum vehicles and taxi drivers who refuse to accept passengers.

For LTO Chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza, “Oplan Pasaway” aims to reduce the inconvenience passengers encounter with choosy drivers especially during the holidays.

“Marami sa mga taxi drivers ang nangongontrata at talagang hindi nagpapasakay kung hindi papayag sa gusto nilang presyuhan. Mahigpit pong ipinagbabawal ito dahil violation ito ng kanilang prangkisa,” Mendoza said.

For the deployment of LTO personnel, Mendoza assures that there will be sufficient number of enforcers that will be deployed even after office hours in strategic locations to ensure that taxi drivers behave properly and that no colorum vehicles will be operating. As part of its campaign, Medoza encourages everyone to report to LTO if they encounter choosy drivers.

“Pagtulungan po nating wakasan ang ganitong maling sistema dahil hindi matatapos ang mga ganitong gawain kung hahayaan lang natin ang mga ito na mambiktima ng mga kawawang pasahero,” Mendoza adds.