LTFRB suspends bus firm for 3-bus smashup

MANILA, Philippines - The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has suspended the franchise of a bus company whose unit caused a three-vehicle collision in Quezon City over the weekend that injured close to 50 persons.

LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez said the preventive suspension on Nova Auto Transport Inc. will last for a month while the board investigates Saturday’s incident.

The board yesterday confiscated the yellow plates of the bus company’s 15 buses at its garage in Novaliches.

Forty-seven people were hurt when a Nova bus sideswiped a bus of Marikina Auto Line then unloading passengers at a loading bay at Philcoa on Commonwealth Avenue.

Because of the impact, the sideswiped bus rear-ended a Safeway bus.

Superintendent Ely Pintang of the Quezon City Police District said the driver of the speeding Nova bus was apparently in a hurry to pick up more passengers at the loading bay.

The Nova bus driver is facing a complaint for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple physical injuries.