| Abstract | Jeepneys and tricycles have long been dynamically playing an integral part of the
transportation system in the Philippines. The role of these two paratransit modes are so crucial
that people's mobility are highly dependent on these types of public transport as they are the only
available modes in many places of the country like Butuan City.
The study takes into account the paratransit system characteristics, evaluation of services,
impact to another motorized traffic, and the financial analysis. It employed the means of
questionnaire, on-board, interview, institutional, and field surveys.
The control of jeepney is being undertaken by the Land Transp01iation Office and Land
Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board while the tricycle is under the city government
particularly the Office of the City Mayor. Users of these two paratransit modes belong to their
active legal working ages, thus work, school, and personal businesses are the dominant trip
purposes. Drivers usually rent the vehicles from the middle income operators, and many of them
are driving full-time as such driving is their only source of income.
SCARCE, an acronym describing the attributes of a good public transport services which
stands for Safety, Comfort, Accessibility, Reliability, Cost, and Efficiency was used to evaluate
the services of the two modes. In terms of safety, comf01i, cost, and efficiency of public transport,
jeepney is better than tricycle, however tricycle is more accessible than jeepney. Regarding the
reliability, there is no significant difference of the two paratransit modes. Users of jeepneys and
tricycles in Butuan City preferred the acronym SACCRE, safety, accessibility, comfort, cost,
reliability, and efficiency as the order of preference in the attributes of the good public transport
services.
Speed reduction is a common case when tricycles and jeepneys travel in traffic generating
areas and mixed fanes than in their prescribed routes. Furthermore, the travel speed is
significantly lower than the running speed, thus delays are creating a greater impact in the
operation besides traffic condition. These delays are caused by boarding and alighting anywhere
as well as the unnecessary calls for the tricycles.
Financially, the two systems are profitable for an investor. Tricycles give a better benefit
when the owner driving system is employed than rental, while hiring a driver to drive a tricycle
is not an attractive scheme. In jeepneys, these three schemes give better benefits but still own and
drive is much better than rental and hiring driver. |