MECQ Returns: No Trains, Taxis, Ride-Share, Buses, Jeeps

Public transport will be suspended for the duration of the 15-day Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine in Metro Manila and it suburbs. This means commuters will have to rely on company provided shuttles or bike to work, that is if their industry is allowed to operate on-site.

The MECQ, which will start at midnight Tuesday until Aug. 18 will suspend the following, according to the Department of Transportation: MRT-3, LRT-1, LRT-2, PNR, buses, jeeps, taxis and ride-sharing or TNVS. Tricycles can operate subject to local government restrictions.

Private shuttles need a special permit from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and must only be half filled, the DOTr said in an advisory. The agency did not immediately say on Monday what will happen to aviation, but under the previous MECQ in May, inter-island travel was not allowed.

Private cars carrying persons in permitted sectors can travel with up to two persons per row. Bicycles, motorcycles and e-scooters are allowed as long as the person using them is allowed to leave the house, according to the DOTr.

Duterte said the National Capital Region, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan would return to MECQ after a weekend distress call from medical frontliners who said rising cases were overwhelming the health system.  As of Sunday, confirmed infections reached 103,185 after posting record numbers for successive days since Thursday last week.

Only last week, the government allowed nearly 2,000 jeepney drivers to resume limited operations and the number of buses on EDSA was increased. With the reiteration of the rules on Monday, operations will stop from Tuesday.