Philippine universities are playing their part reducing greenhouse emissions by adopting electric jeepneys (e-jeepneys) as campus shuttle vehicles, the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) said.
The universities that have deployed electric-powered shuttles are the De La Salle University Dasmariñas campus and Ateneo de Manila University.
In a statement on Tuesday, EVAP said La Salle Dasmariñas fielded e-jeepneys as a parent-led initiative.
“We decided to fund the purchase of an e-jeepney (initially) to improve not just our transport system inside the campus but help the environment as well. There is less noise, no pollution. We called it the Ikot La Salle EJeep,” Carmelyn C. Antig, head of the Parents Organization of La Salle Cavite, Inc., said.
The e-jeepneys, according to Ms. Antig, were supplied by Philippine Utility Vehicle, Inc.
“These are used to transport students within its 27-hectare site as part of a drive to achieve a carbon-neutral campus,” she explained.
“The university owns and operate the vehicles, charging P6 for each passenger, from which one peso is paid to the driver while another peso is channelled into the university scholarship fund,” EVAP President Rommel T. Juan said.
In December, Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City pioneered the move to adapt an in-campus electric jeepney shuttle transport system, which it called “Ateneo E-Jeep.”
“Meralco assisted in the provisioning of an eVehicle Power Station at the Ateneo grounds in Katipunan, Quezon City. The Ateneo EJeep system is operated by Meralco Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of Meralco,” Mr. Juan said in a separate statement.
The Ateneo E-Jeep system has four 14-seater e-jeepneys, which ply the 86-hectare campus. The system has 11 stops with a wait time of about 10 minutes.
Ateneo operates the system as a free shuttle service for the campus population of about 17,000 people, EVAP said.
EVAP said that as more universities and private real estate developers operate their own electric transport system, “they will help us in our campaign to have one million electric cars on the road by 2020.”
