LTFRB, BPO workers group ink road safety pact

MANILA — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Wednesday signed an agreement with the BPO Workers’ Association of the Philippines (BWAP-TUCP) and EACOMM Corporation that would ensure the safety of BPO workers who regularly commute from dusk to dawn.

Under the memorandum of agreement, the three organizations will be fulfilling different but related functions to ensure the convenience and safety of IT-BPO workers when they travel from work using public utility buses and vehicles, UV express vans, and taxis regulated by the Board.

IT solution provider EACOMM will offer their Trip Barker, a community-based Trip Planner for Mass Transit Systems that allow users to share information through updates and reports.

Through the Trip Barker system, IT-BPO workers can avoid crowded stations, heaby traffic and flooded streets by monitoring events in the metro in real-time.

The BWAP-TUCP, for its part, will implement programs towards improved and sustained security of IT-BPO workers while on the road, as well as establish effective means of communication to provide workers a venue to raise complaints against erring PUBs/PUVs.

LTFRB will continue to coordinate with other government agencies related to public transportation, and security and safety of the general public, particularly the IT-BPO workers.

“As mandated by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), we are to ensure the convenience and safety of the people when they travel the metropolis, hence this agreement is very timely and highly relevant to our road safety campaign,” LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez said.

He added that the Board welcomes this partnership, the first of its kind in the industry, whose results can be a benchmark for future agreements with other agencies and the private sector.

“Bukas po ang aming tanggapan na makipatulungan sa iba’t ibang organisasyon upang maging convenient at ligtas ang araw-araw na pagbibiyahe ng ating manggagawa,” Ginez said.

There are an estimated 800,000 IT-BPO workers in the country. –ABS-CBNnews.com