Health workers can now catch free rides to hospitals using Google Maps

Finding the best Free Ride routes for frontline health workers to quickly get to their respective medical facilities or hospitals is now made easier with the use of Google Maps.

The Google Maps feature for the Free Ride for Health Workers Service was arranged in coordination with the Department of Transportation (DOTR).

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DOTr announced on April 6, 2020, that they collaborated with Google to make it easier for the health workers to check for the best free-ride routes among the 19 available routes, to go to their destinations in the duration of the enhanced community quarantine.

Using mobile phones, desktop, or a tablet computer, frontline health workers and hospital staffers can simply go online and do the following:

1. Launch Google Maps via app or web.
2. Enter your intended destination.
3. Tap “Directions”.
4. Select the public transit tab. This is the train icon which comes after car and motorcycle icons.
5. 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,” 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,” Secretary Tugade added.

“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,” said Bernadette Nacario, Country Director, Google Philippines.

DOTr also provided the updated map link on their Facebook page.

Google said that the actual route may vary and depend on road conditions.

The Philippine-made Hybrid Electric Road Train, COMET e-Bus, and e-Trikes have been deployed to exclusively shuttle Frontliners and Health Service Providers going to and from their work.

The BRP Gabriela Silang of the Philippine Coast Guard has also been commissioned to ferry hospital workers and medical supplies while Ambulance Ships are ferrying patients in Quezon.

During the Taal Volcano eruption, Google also released a consolidated map of centers for people who need to find shelter or want to send help.

SEND CHEERS in the comments below to the Google and DOTr collaboration to make it easier for frontliners to avail of the free rides to get to their work during the quarantine.

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