Frontliners and health workers can now easily find the best routes to take going to the free bus rides. 

This after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) collaborated with Google to make the routes to be readily available in Google Maps.

Be it mobile phones, desktops, or a tablet computers, Google Maps can recommend the best routes going to their destinations being served by the DOTr’s free shuttles.

Currently a total of 19 routes are beinh served under the DOTr to ferry medical frontliners and hospital staffers to the different hospitals and medical facilities during the enforcement of the Luzon-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine.

Below are the instructions for using Google Maps

• Launch Google Maps via app or web. 
• Enter your intended destination.
• Tap “Directions”.
• Select the public transit tab. This is the train icon which comes after car and motorcycle icons.
• Maps will immediately pull up a recommended route which uses the DOTr’s hospital shuttle routes, when available.

"This innovative initiative adds up to the convenience we wish to provide our frontline health workers as they go into battle daily against the COVID-19 pandemic. I always tell everyone that all of us, especially at this point in time, should embrace technology,” DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

“Technology makes our lives easier. So, as we help provide our health workers with daily free rides, I am certain that partnering with digital technology will also make navigating routes the least of their worries. We want to make things easier for them, given the enormous tasks that they perform everyday,” he added.

For their part, Bernadette Nacario, Country Director, Google Philippines, expressed its gratitude to the forntliners.

“We admire and honor all our frontline workforce, both in the medical and non-medical fields, risking their personal health and lives to save others and flatten the curve. Google Philippines strives to use our technology to provide help and support during this challenging time. We hope that by making the routes of the DOTr's free rides accessible on Google Maps, we are helping provide ease and convenience to the daily transport of our frontliners," Nacario said.

Updates to the bus routes and schedules will be reflected in the service, including the addition of free shuttle services from local government units (LGUs) soon.

 

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DOTr's Routes for Free Rides for Frontliners now at 19