MANILA — The government will raise the subsidy for transport operators buying so-called modern jeepneys to P210,000 from P180,000, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Monday.

Bautista said the Department of Transportation will ask legislators to allot funding for this in the 2024 national budget, so that more operators will replace their units with modern ones.

He said that the price range for the modern jeepneys is between P1.5 million to P2.5 million, with electric versions costing around P3 million each.

• Transport groups: Philippines not prepared for transport modernization yet

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He said the small subsidy from the government is meant to help jeepney operators get financing loans from banks.

A transport group said the P210,000 subsidy is actually small compared to current prices of allowed modernized vehicles.

For the modernization of UV Express vans, meanwhile, Zaldy Ping-ay of the Stop and Go Coalition is appealing to government to allow them to purchase new vans like the Toyota Grandia and Hiace or the Nissan Urvan instead of the prescribed China-made vans or mini buses.

• DOTr backs locally-made modern jeepneys

According to Ping-ay, they would still prefer that all passengers would be sitting, instead of having standing passengers as proposed by government. — Report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News