By Philip M. Lustre Jr.
DURING the pre-pandemic days, it was normal for a passenger to pay less than P500 for a ride from Quezon City to the idyllic town of San Felipe in Zambales, a distance of 175 kilometers. He took the ride in a bus belonging to Victory Liner, a 70-year old legitimate bus firm whose bus fleet traverses almost the whole expanse of northern and central Luzon. Victory Liner is reputedly a progressive firm that issued insurance for passengers to cover accidents and unforeseen incidents, while riding in its buses.
Nowadays, passengers have to take private vans, cars and other modes of land transport and pay at least triple the pre-pandemic fares of pubic transport. This is simply because public buses are not easily accessible. These private owned vans and cars have taken over the provincial routes. But they are not registered as public transport firms. Ergo, they do not pay taxes to the government or issue receipts to passengers.
Since they are part of the so-called “underground economy,” owners of these private vehicles do not assume responsibility if ever accidents happen along the road. Moreover, they hardly follow health protocols. In case of contamination of the dreaded Covid-19 virus, their owners could not be forced or counted to be responsible to their passengers.
The bus industry providing public transport now suffers the worst crisis since the postwar era. Most public buses literally came to a complete halt, when the government imposed what could be regarded one of the worst lockdown in the community of nations at the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
When it was time to revive the economy after months of complete lockdown, the government did not immediately order the bus firms to resume their operations put their buses on the road. Instead, it ordered the use of face shields, which was not even necessary.
It also formed the Inter-Agency Task Force Against Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), whose members were mostly retired military generals, who have no medical training, and other public officials, who have established a notoriety for official incompetence and lack of sensitivity to public demands.
The IATF responded to the public clamor for a revived public transport, when on February 26, 2021, it has issued Resolution 101 , requiring provincial buses to load and unload passengers on designated ITXs. This resolution has named three terminals: Sta Rosa Integrated Terminal (SRIT) in Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) in Paranaque City; and the North Luzon Exchange Terminal (NLET) in Bocaue, Bulacan adjacent the Iglesia ni Kristo’s Philippine Arena compound.
The SRIT and PITX have been chosen and required to serve as the hub of the provincial buses traversing the south and southwest of Luzon. The NLET has been assigned to serve buses traveling northern Luzon. But going to these terminals is inconvenient for passengers. They are far from passengers, who have to go first to the towns of Sta. Rosa in Laguna and Bocaue in Bulacan, take tricycles rides from there to go to the two terminals, and get a bus to go the provinces. The terminal in Paranaque City is in a location, which requires passengers to walk great distance, an inconvenient situation for them.
Moreover, all buses bound for provinces would be required under the IATF resolution to use the integrated terminal exchanges as the central hubs for public transport. No bus company or public transport would be allowed use of their private terminals.
The resolution has unintended unfavorable consequences, as it has promoted the use of the so-called “colorum” vehicles, which taken advantage of problems of legitimate bus firms. Their vans and cars do not follow loading capacity. They charge exorbitant fees and fail to comply with minimum health standards thus causing more danger to passengers given the pandemic.
Meanwhile, provincial buses have been suspended for almost 2 years already. Despite this, bus operators continue to meet fees to renew bus registration and business permits, and pay insurance premiums and workers’ compensation. Incidentally, the bus industry has been a steady source of income for employees, transport workers, and their families. Most small and medium enterprises depend on bus operations for their daily existence.
Legitimate bus operators and their representatives have repeated talks with the Cabinet, the Department of Transportation, LFTRB, and IATF people, but their efforts have resulted only in these functionaries pointing fingers at each other. Instead, government officials repeatedly claimed that it is the bus operators who are remiss in getting the special permits.
How about rescinding that Resolution and allow bus firms to use their private terminals? They are still useful and could be easily revived for use.
No comments:
Post a Comment