LTO Bureaucracy 8, No Driver's License Available

I don't understand what is really happening at the LTO, DOTC and Sec. Jun Abaya. You bring your car for the mandatory annual registration, (a) No car stickers, (b) No car plate available, And if you get a driver's license (DL), (c) No DL available, only a temporary paper license, and you pay P473 for it.

I covered my address, DL no., date of birth. When I asked one LTO officer when they will give that small laminated plastic DL, he said "mga 3-4 months po sir, balik kayo."

hayyy, dagdag abala naman yan pabalik ng LTO.

Here's a breakdown  of the P473 payment.

I asked them also when they will release the new car plate. Last month, they said "after 3-4 months" meaning by July or August. Yesterday, one staff said "mga August-September pa po sir."

1. Car stickers, about P50.

2. Car plate, P450.

3. Driver's license, P473.

All paid for by motorists and car owners, all not available.

Ano ba nangyayari dyan Sec. Jun Abaya? First time yata nangyayari ito, at mag reflect kay boss PNoy mo ito.

In the private sector, there is often over-supply especially if the sector or sub-sector is under fierce competition. That is why there are many "eat all you can" restaurants, "buy 1 take 1" shops or "weekend madness sale" malls, cheap mobile phones, etc. Entrepreneurs and suppliers anticipate demand, so they supply a lot in advance.

In contrast in government, like LTO-DOTC, supply is far far behind. Notorious inefficiency, or outright competition for robbery among factions in some government agencies. 

Plus slow MRT trains, often malfunctioning train air-con, despite the fare hikes. Plus crowded airports and things that are government-owned and operated. Good that buses and buslines are private. Otherwise, there would be shortage of buses, very crowded bus stations everyday.

I waited almost 2 hours at LTO Makati to get this temporary DL It was fast at the beginning, then slowed down later, especially in the picture taking and signature (window 4), then payment/cashier (window 7), then getting the temporary DL (window 5).

My original DL I lost to bus thieves last Wednesday who stole my wallet. A consolation that the LTO could have done, is to extend the expiry of the new DL that they will issue. My orig DL will expire in 2016. The temporary DL they issued will also expire in 2016. They could have made it May 2018 for a full 3 years DL. They did not do it, thinking that they will get more money from me and other driver's next year.

Comments from friends when I posted that temp. DL and my initial observations in  my fb wall. I did not ask permission from them to use their comments, so I am only giving their first names -- all are real people, not fictitious. Readers should focus on the ideas and sentiments, not the identity of people.

1. Bayani: they simply refuse to improve.

2. Manny: A simple agency to manage if only it is not a money-making machine for crooks! We need to privatize a lot of govt agencies and lessen govt intervention on our lives!!!

3. Paul: makapal ang mga pagmumuhak ng mga taong yan, wala silang pakialam, nasa pilipinas kasi. kaya abusado ang mga taong yan.

4. Ador: Incompetence.

5. Waltzing: PDAF may budget ninanakaw. You paid all the fees. No ID?available?

6. Jorge: Abaya us running for the senate ano kaya ang gagawin nya?

7. Ricardo: This is the noynoy-brand of decay. Tuwid na daan indeed.

Abaya, de lima, et al are all running for senate in the hopes of gaining immunity from suit for the anomalies they did that will all surface after 2016.

8. John: They should break up DOTC, merge the transport units with DPWH and create a DICT. LTO should be merged with LTRFB. Remove developmental mandates from CAAP and PPA and make them purely regulatory agencies. Outsource or privatize everything that is not regulatory in function.

9. Leo: Jun Abaya has got to be the most incompetent DOTC Secretary in its history. Nearly all the major visible public-affecting problems, e.g., MRT, LTO, LTFRB, are in his department. And despite his gross incompetence he's still there, continuing to wreak major damage to the institution and the nation.

10. Casey: Registered two cars last February. No stickers, no plates, until today. That happens when incompetents appoint other incompetents.or criminals. Look what happened at MRT. Something that never happened in 40 years. A foreign company accused the MRT crook of extortion. A foreign ambassador even came to testify about it, something never seen before. And what happens? Nothing. A huge black mark.

They prosecute senators and even the VP for corruption, which is good, if they are guilty. But prima facie evidence about the MRT heist is swept under the rug. Not exactly the straight path. The only good thing is that next year they will probably all be taken out by someone who is more honest

11. Stephen: Ricardo,  I hear what you're saying. As I did some reading in media reports I learned that the company that has been making the drivers licenses was awarded the contract in the mid 1980s. I presume, but admit that I am unclear, that the contract was awarded under Pres. Marcos. It expired at the end of 5 years, but no previous administration did anything about getting a new contract. So LTO just kept paying the uncontracted vendor. It is only now, under this administration that a real contract is being achieved. Not surprisingly that is not an easy process.

Casey: If they cannot even contract licenses and plates, can they do anything useful?

Stephen:  I am as frustrated as anyone and agree with your view. According to media reporting, LTO wants to bring the production "in-house." This is causing problems - they say - to get the printing/production machines in each of their offices. And... I am told... to overcome 25 years of comfort with the way things have been done by every administration since the mid 1980's. I don’t condone the state of affairs but merely write what I hear and read.

Nonoy: One possibility, DOTC keeps paying the vendor then sues it for inability to deliver the goods, a clear breach of contract. DOTC gets even with money then get another contractor/s to supply all the backlog. DOTC shd be ashamed of these things happening.

Ricardo: LTO hasn't been paying the plate supplier for at least year

12. Edwin: Jun Abaya is just a mere shadow of Mar Roxas - walang sariling dsisyon yung mama. Kailangan dumaan lahat kay Mar. The DOTC Action Center was converted into a Kayo ang Boss ko Action Center run by Mar Roxas people.

13. Leo:  The number one rule of this administration: if Noynoy likes you, you can do no wrong. If he doesn't like you, you can do no right.  How many YEARS does it take to renew, rebid or otherwise change a contract? Does it take 5 years?????!!!

Stephen: If media reports are accurate, its more like 25 years. Thats about when the last contract expired and nobody did anything about getting a new one til now. They just kept paying the old vendor. Same story, by the way,with some other services and other agencies and 1980's era contracts.

14. Carlos: It's actually a simple task for them, I am quite puzzled why they screwed this up. Or maybe they should get those experts in Recto to produce the licenses

Nonoy:  If DOTC's hand is tied in an existing contract, it can sue the contractor for failure to deliver the (a) car stickers, (b) car plates, (c) driver's licenses. The inconvenience to the public -- asking ALL of them to call LTO or come back after x number of months, and come back again after the specified period, the image of incompetence of the PNoy administration, etc. are huge damages.

But I think Jun Abaya is part of all these incompetence or scam. The LP should remove him from DOTC quick -- if the party is serious in stamping out corruption and inefficiency within its ranks.

15. Edison: noong huli ako nag-renew ng akin Driver's License mabilis kuha mo agad ang yon card type license matagal na yon 2 hours balita ko nga ngayon di mo makukuha yan ganyan muna issue nila babalik balikan mo pa yan bakit pauron nag paurong ang systema natin akala ko doon na mismo sa Branches ng LTO Print na nila ang Driuver's Lincense mo para kuah mo agad alam ko panahon ni marcos yan bakit bumabalik pa sa ganyan that PNoy called Tuwid na Daan bakit bumabaluktot pa dati tumagal din kasi daw panget ang INk sa pagprint ng License cards nagpalit na ng supplier ng ink ok na tapos ngyon yan ano naman ang dadahilan nila.

Papaano mapatutupad ang NO Plate No travel Policy ng LTO kung ang tagal naman mag-release ng Plate Number dami tuloy naguguluhan.

16. Francis: Abolish the LTO and DOTC. Let car registration and driving lisences be issued by vehicle vendors and insurance companies on the agreement that if someone they guarantee gets into an accident, the dealer or insurance company pays through the nose.

How many bad drivers have been certified by the LTO, DOTC? How many injuries and fatalities are they responsible for? Why are they not liable? Because they are government and government is magic.

17. Kika: Ang Nakakainis diyan is that I had to go to the U.S. and I only had the receipt. I couldn't drive! Hassle!

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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013, December 11, 2013  
LTO Bureaucracy 5: No Plate Available, April 05, 2015 

LTO Bureaucracy 6: On the No Plate No Travel Prohibition, April 09, 2015 

LTO Bureaucracy 7: Cost of Annual Car Registration, April 16, 2015

LTO Bureaucracy 5: No Plate Available

Among the most inefficient and corruption-prone agencies and  bureaucracies in the  PH government is the Land Transportation Office (LTO) under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). Below are some  of the memes and photos circulating in  facebook, twitter and other social  media. Recent Presidents of the PH from 1992, top to bottom: Fidel V. Ramos (FVR), Joseph "Erap" Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), Benigno S. Aquino (BSA).

This and related photos are posted in the fb pages of Top Gear PH, kotse.com, etc. This occurred not just this year but 2 o 3 years ago. LTO and DOTC officials should be ashamed of this.

(This report is from Rappler, April 01, 2015.)
LTO + police officials flag down new cars with no plates, harass or penalize the drivers and car owners, arguing that the plates have been  released to the car dealers.

A friend, former head of the  National Statistics Office (NSO), Dr. Tomas Africa, posted in his fb wall this week, April 1, "I don't care who is more inefficient. We need to use the vehicle we bought from Ford EDSA Greenhills on 29 January 2015. It still has no license plate up to now. Starting today I can't use it. 62 days no license plate, 1 day no travel."

Two months with no plate, wow. My other friend got his plate after almost one year. Horrible LTO.

Car manufacturers and dealers point the finger to the LTO. This Rappler news last April 01, 2015 says that "The Chamber of Automotive manufacturers of the Philippines Incorporated (CAMPI) is urging the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to release plates recently made available as the government implements the "no registration, no travel" policy effective Wednesday, April 1.

“We hope LTO can release plates made available recently, in time for the policy's implementation," said CAMPI President Rommel Gutierrez."

And not only No Plate for new cars, No Sticker also for old cars which require annual vehicle registration with LTO. Like this photo.

My car has no sticker for two years now, 2013-2014. That "Registered, No sticker available" is stamped on the registration paper. I need to register my car again this month, Will I get that stamp again, for the 3rd year straight?

Getting plates and stickers should be easy, if no irregular transactions are happening.

This is not to say of course that the LTO-DOTC is the "odd man  out" among PH government offices and agencies. Inefficiency is generally the rule and not the exception. It's just that some agencies are more inefficient and wasteful than others.

And this is not a call  for "Big but good governance" either. As government expands, wastes and inefficiencies also expand. A simpler way is for the DOTC to have vehicle registration every 3 or 5 years, like passports and driver's license. Anyway, the LTO-DOTC can suspend the registration of any vehicle and prohibit it from being used on the roads if the driver and/or owner was involved in some serious cases like hitting seriously a pedestrian or another vehicle causing serious injuries if not death. Shrink the bureaucracy and we will shrink the inefficiencies and  wastes.

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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 1: Hidden Costs in Vehicle Registration, May 04, 2010
LTO Bureaucracy 2: Renewing a Driver's License, October 26, 2010 
LTO Bureaucracy 3: Endless Fines and Penalties, November 02, 2011 
LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013, December 11, 2013 
The RFID racket, January 15, 2010

Transport Econ 12: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Tricycles

There is another proposal by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to introduce a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Metro Manila, Cebu City and Davao. Photos below of various BRTs in other countries I got from the web.

In the metropolis, the key features of the system, according to this report from rappler, DOTC eyes bus rapid transit, more walkways, car-less cities.

·         Bus-only lanes that make travel time faster because buses are not delayed by other vehicles on the road.

·         Dedicated lanes are in the center of the road to keep buses away from busy curb-sides that can also cause delays.

·         Fare collection is done at the station instead of on board the bus to eliminate delays caused by passengers paying the driver or conductor.

·         Buses will be given priority at intersections.

·         Platform for boarding will be level with the bus floor for quick and easy boarding.

The DOTC is putting up a 28-kilometer BRT worth P4.65 billion. The system will run from Manila City Hall to Fairview in Quezon City, passing through Quezon Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue.

There is one big problem in this proposal. Because of poor peace and order problem (government failure to maintain peace and order, corrupt police, etc.), people live in gated villages with their private security. These villages and subdivisions are normally far out from where the trains and the proposed BRT will be.

Assume for the sake of argument that the BRT is already in place along Quezon Avenue to Commonwealth Avenue, also in Edsa. For people coming from Las Pinas or Paranaque or Fairview/QC, this is what they will go through:

(1) ride tricycle from village to secondary or primary road

(2) ride jeep or bus from there to MRT/LRT/BRT station

 (3) ride train/BRT to Makati or Ortigas or Manila

(4) ride jeepney or fx van to final destination.

Four rides from house to office. Or it can be three rides, assuming that #2 above is eliminated. Going back home, another three or four rides in reverse sequence as above. if you are wearing a formal corporate dress, carrying a laptop and important documents, or some big cash, would you leave your car at home and endure the above 8 rides a day, 5 days a week?

Some would say Yes, but many middle class and rich people would say No. And that is why people bring their cars everyday and endure the traffic congestion, endure the difficulty in getting paid parking, just to maintain their poise, or at least not risk being held up or snatched somewhere along those 6-8 rides everyday.

 A good example is Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City., the country's widest road with 8 lanes both sides. On each side of that road from Philcoa to Fairview, there are dozens and dozens of private villages and informal settlements. If one lives in any of those villages or settlements and go to Ortigas or Manila or Makati, elsewhere, the above 8 rides a day apply. This makes going to work via public transpo -- even with an expanded MRT, even with a proposed BRT in operation -- very inconvenient, costly and time consuming. Try riding a tricycle with your corporate attire and personal/office documents, 5x a week, worse during rainy season, and you will understand why that "carless city" even for many middle class is just fiction, like Batman and Spiderman fiction stories.

The other DOTC proposal is to have more bike lanes. It looks and sounds fine, but then again, not everyone is physically or mentally fit to ride a bicycle. Or not everyone is willing to endure direct sunlight plus buses/trucks pollution, or endure the rains and street flooding during the wet season.

The quick solution to the above 6-8 rides a day, 5x a week, are those air-con vans. They serve like school buses, picking up passengers from their house or at least village gate, to final destination in Makati or Global City, Ortigas, Eastwood, Manila, etc. It is convenient and generally safe too. But it can be costly too, and the queueing at designated terminals at residential areas, then terminals at office areas, can be long and tiring. Why? Because the number of legal, “non-colorum” vans is limited.

The DOTC’s Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has made getting a franchise for each aircon van very costly, up to P150,000 per unit, I heard, exclusive of bribes just to hasten things. It is deliberate on the part of LTFRB to make things very costly, very bureaucratic and time consuming, so that van operators will be forced to kneel before them, or go "underground", ie, "colorum" vehicles. And harassment and extortion of colorum vans is even higher, daily or weekly. Result is that supply of legitimate, "non-colorum" vans is limited. Passengers suffer.

Transport problem is a market problem with market solutions. No different from people getting hungry at lunch time but have no time to cook food on their own, so carinderias, cheap and expensive restos, fast foods, just show up to fill this market demand.

Government comes in usually to bureaucratize things, make things more expensive, more complicated and time consuming.

The DOTC and LTFRB should recognize that they are mainly the source of the transport problem, not the solution. Their bureaucratism and extortion mentality restricts if not kills more realistic market solutions to market problem of public transpo. But since those guys are dishonest, along with many other government agencies, national and local, they will never recognize that they are the problem.

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See also:
Transport Econ 8: Removing MRT and LRT Fare Subsidy, March 08, 2013
Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013 
Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban, July 18, 2013 
Transport Econ 11: On Fare-Contracting Taxi Drivers, December 13, 2013

LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013

I noticed only recently that my driver's license has already expired, in October this year. So this afternoon, I went to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) satellite office at the Ayala MRT station in Makati. I entered around 2:25pm, got my license and left at 3:58pm or total of 1:33 waiting time. This is longer than my previous experiences in the same office six years and three years ago. A driver's license expires every three years.

Six procedures, not four as the diagram at the LTO office would depict.

1. Show your soon expiring or expired license at Window 1, they will give you a license renewal form, instruct you to undergo a "medical exam".
2. Go to the next room, pay P100, and go through a "medical exam."
3. Go back to Window 1 and submit the filled up renewal form plus the certificate that you have passed the medical exam.
4. Have your photo taken plus give your electronic signature, Window 2.
5. Pay at Cashier, Window 4.
6. Get your new license, Window 3.

The "medical exam/test", you enter a small room, they get your weight, height, asks your normal blood pressure (no actual BP measurement is taken), asks you to read one line of those small random letters with your right eye close, then with the left eye close, and it's done, you have "passed" the medical test, done in 1-2 minutes. Done by J n W Drug Testing Center.

A summary of my experience in renewing a driver's license at LTO, Ayala MRT station office.

Six years ago, October 2007:
Total time spent: 55 minutes
Total fees paid: P350 + P277.63 = P627.63
Drug test fee 250 + medical test 100 = P350
License fee 180 + computerization fee 67.63 + revision of records fee (changed my address) 30 = P277.63

Three years ago, October 2010:
Total time spent: 1:20 hour
Total payment: P817.63
composed of: License fee 350, Computer fee P 67.63, drug test fee P300.00, Medical fee P100.00

December 2013:
Total time spent: 1:33 hour
Total payment: P592.63
composed of: Medical fee P100 + License fee 350 + Computerization fee 67.63 + penalty for late renewal 75

So, over the past six years, there is one improvement, they removed the drug testing procedure and payment of P300. But the waiting time remains high, more than one hour. With continued technological development almost anywhere, things should have been faster.

The aircon was pathetic. One should sit at the inner seats, away from the door, to feel the "con", otherwise, it's just hot air near the door.

Government is really slow, at adapting to changes, if changing at all. That computer fee should be abolished. Even grade schoolers now use computers and laptops in their schools, how much more with a huge government agency like DOTC and LTO.

I heard that in Singapore, a driver's license is for a lifetime. It is only removed or cancelled if the driver gets involved in a serious accident and it was the driver's fault, or the driver has committed repeated violations of certain traffic rules.

We should adopt the same practice here. But given the generally corrupt culture in the government, it is not going to happen soon.
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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 1: Hidden Costs in Vehicle Registration, May 04, 2010
LTO Bureaucracy 2: Renewing a Driver's License, October 26, 2010 
LTO Bureaucracy 3: Endless Fines and Penalties, November 02, 2011

Transport Econ 8: Removing MRT and LRT Fare Subsidy

The MRT line from North Avenue in QC to Taft Avenue in Pasay is the most congested among the three urban train systems in Metro Manila. At rush hours, it is relatively common that passengers in midway stations are “bypassed” once, twice or even thrice and wait for the next train as the trains are so packed with so many passengers.

  

There is a new program by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to help decongest the trains. They are fielding buses that will pick up passengers at North Avenue station only and stop only at the last three stations -- Ayala, Magallanes and Taft Avenue. The fare is the same, just P15. The fare in normal air-con buses for this route is at least P35. The government says this is a temporary measure until they are able to get new trains.

Ok, what is wrong with this scheme? Or the MRT/LRT fare subsidy in the first place?

One, government gives fare subsidy to commuters of Metro Manila, but not to commuters in other parts of the country, say the cities in Davao, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio, Tuguegarao. This is another example of Manila favoritism by the Manila-based government.  Thus, it contributes to tax distortion. Taxpayers from many cities and provinces in the country who do not benefit from the subsidized train fare contribute to the fund.

Two,  it promotes bus line cronyism. Give handsome subsidies to the favored bus lines while slapping lots of bureaucracies, fees and penalties to other bus lines taking the same route. Thus, it distorts bus line competition.

Three, it distorts or defeats moves to decongest Metro Manila. The implicit message of the MRT/LRT subsidy and other government programs is this: "You in the provinces, come to Manila. We give MRT and LRT fare subsidy, housing subsidy and free relocation, lots of government hospitals and PhilHealth cards, etc."

Most subsidies violate the rule of law. The latter says the law (like tax-funded subsidies) should apply to all, no one is exempted and no one can grant an exception. So if government should subsidize commuters in M. Maninla, it should also subsidize commuters nationwide, and this is impractical and impossible.  In most cases, government itself is the single biggest violator of the rule of law. We are not talking about the laws against corruption and plunder, robbery and murder.