Bus firms earning more from dispatching scheme?

Two transport group leaders said yesterday there was a slight increase in their earnings in the first two days of the implementation of the organized EDSA bus route scheme, despite half-day suspension due to confusion and heavy rains.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said the traffic scheme, also called the single dispatching system, would help bus operators and drivers earn more.

"There was an improvement of about 10 percent to 15 percent in our members’ earnings for the first half of the first two days of the organized bus scheme." Beth Mendoza, an official of the North East Manila Bus Operators Group, told The STAR.

The MMDA was forced to suspend the scheme at noon last Monday because of the marked confusion by the drivers, dispatchers, operators, as well as the agency’s traffic enforcers. The MMDA was again forced to suspend the scheme last Tuesday because of the heavy rains brought about by typhoon "Lakay."

The scheme was implemented the entire day yesterday.

Mendoza credited the increase in their earnings because the buses were filled with passengers when they plied EDSA unlike before when all the units would be fighting over the commuters, with some forced to run with very few passengers.

Claire de la Fuente, president of the Integrated Metro Bus Operators Association (IMBOA), said the reports on the earnings were "extreme."

While acknowledging the increase in the earnings of some bus operators, De la Fuente said it would be better if they give the scheme a week before the assessment.

"There are some who said they earned more but there were others who also complained that they earned little. Those who earned could be the favored ones," she said. – Nikko Dizon