Quezon City government will continue to give free bus rides via its QCity buses amid the public’s return to office and students’ face-to-face classes as well as the continued fuel price hikes.
Said buses that are under the Quezon City Augmented Bus program will continue to give free rides on eight routes within the city, according to Quezon City mayor Joy Belmonte.
The announcement was made two days after the Department of Transportation announced the end of free rides for the Edsa Carousel on June 30.
In a tweet, Belmonte said that the extension of the program can help citizens allocate their budget to food rather than transport fares.
“Return to office? Face to face classes? We gotchu QCitizens! Dahil may FOREVER sa QCity bus!” Belmonte said in a tweet.
“Sobrang mahal na ng gasolina at kasunod na rin niyan ang pagmahal ng mga bilihin. Kailangan nating magtipid kaya malaking bagay na yung malilibre mo sa pamasahe, maipambili mo na ng bigas,” she added in a separate tweet.
The Quezon City Augmented Bus program is a memorandum of agreement between the QC local government unit and the Land Transportation and Regulatory Board in 2020, that would allow eight buses to operate on certain routes.
The city chief executive said the program has so far ferried around 5.3 million passengers as of March 2022.
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Disclosure: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is a shareholder of Philstar Global Corp., which operates digital news outlet Interaksyon. This article was produced following editorial guidelines.