A lawmaker said the government should use QR codes instead of handwritten manifests to track passengers of public utility vehicles (PUVs) such as jeepneys.
Ako Bicol party-list representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. made the suggestion after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) issued a memorandum circular on Friday, May 15, requiring all PUVs to keep a daily record of passengers for contact-tracing.
Garbin said the ancient manual sign-up method would be burdensome on both the drivers and commuters, aside from exposing them to identity thieves, stalkers, and other privacy violators.
“A better solution is for each PUJ unit to have a unique QR code or other code which commuters can scan each time to get on and off a public transport unit,” said Garbin.
He said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and IT firms could come up with other easy-to-use solutions for all forms of land, sea, and air passenger transport.
“Hindi dapat pahirapan ang drivers at transport associations sa pagtatala ng mga pasahero. Maging maingat tayo nang sobra sa personal na impormasyon ng mga tao. Kung maaari nga sana, magkaroon na ng electronic payment system para mas accurate ang recording ng kita ng driver sa bawat araw ng pamamasada. Mayroon nang ilang bus na bumibiyahe na gumagamit ng mga personal digital assistant para ma-compute ng konduktor ang pamasahe ng bawat pasahero,” he said.
The lawmaker said Covid-19 crisis should serve as a reminder for Congress to urgently replace the country’s obsolete transportation laws. “The archaic thinking at LTFRB is again indicative of how ancient their mindsets are, partly because their charters and other laws they operate by are just as ancient,” he said.
