By Mae Singuay

The transport strike failed to paralyze public transportation in Bacolod City yesterday, city administrator Pacifico Maghari III said.

“Business as usual in the city for the transport system,” Maghari said.

He added the strike was participated by local groups, the Bacolod Alliance of Commuters, Operators and Drivers (BACOD) and the United Negros Drivers and Operator Center-Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (UNDOC-PISTON).

Rudy Catedral, BACOD president, disclosed that around 600 drivers and operators joined the strike.

He said the group calls the government for the revision of the guidelines in the jeepney modernization program.

Meanwhile, the Sentrong Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Negros and the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association did not join the rally.

Around 20 traditional jeepney units temporarily stopped their operations yesterday.

Maghari said the city government and the Bacolod City Police Office provided free rides for stranded commuters yesterday.

He added that they are doing their best so that traditional jeepney operators will have provisional authority for their units by assisting them at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The city administrator also believed transport groups who did not participate in the strike were happy as the temporary need for a provisional authority and the transport sector is stabilized./MS, WDJ