Our country’s public transportation is a joke. Every day, thousands of Filipinos (especially in the National Capital Region) are struggling to get to work and back home on a daily basis. Because of this, Filipinos fall prey to illegal acts of enterprising transport companies. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board claims that the agency is on top of the situation.

To prove that, the LTFRB continues doing its anti-illegal public transport operations. Recently, 13 Premium Taxi units were apprehended by the agency (12 of which are reportedly owned by just one company).

Premium Taxis are multipurpose vehicles, utility vans, or sport-utility vehicles that ferry people for a fee. But instead of using a meter to calculate the fares of the passengers, the apprehended vans are charging a per-person fee.

The vehicles will be impounded for up to three months (even after the fine has been settled), and operators will be fined P200,000. There’s a possibility that franchises might get canceled, too.

These operations are supposedly good. These prevent unregistered vehicles from ferrying passengers as the latter don’t provide enough protection to the commuters, fare-wise. Furthermore, these do not offer accident insurance coverage.

However, during these times when public transport is scarce, are these campaigns really helping the cause of our commuters? Maybe you have the answer, dear readers.