The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has served more than two million medical frontliners in its Free Ride Service for Health Workers program amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
In a statement Saturday, DOTr Assistant Secretary Mark Steven Pastor said the department has logged 2,001,461 total ridership in its “Libreng Sakay” program nationwide.
Of the registered total ridership, Pastor said the National Capital Region (NCR)-Greater Manila Area had 554,625 ridership since the program started mid-March when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was enforced in Luzon.
The DOTr was able to gradually increase the routes covered under the free ride program from the initial three routes to 20 which continues to service health workers despite the lifting of the ECQ.
Meanwhile, in other regions outside the NCR-Greater Manila Area, the free ride services being offered by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) were able to ferry a total of 1,446,836 health workers since the start of regional operations.
“Natutuwa po kami na umabot na sa mahigit 2 milyon ang ridership ng programa dahil sa patuloy na pagtitiwala at pagtangkilik ng ating mga health workers (We are pleased that the program has reached more than 2 million ridership because of the continued trust and patronage of our health workers),” Pastor said.
The free ride program was implemented by the DOTr to help ease the burden of the country’s medical frontliners in getting to their respective workplaces as public transportation was suspended under ECQ. (Alexandria San Juan)
