LTO, LTFRB to inspect bus terminals together

CEBU, Philippines - The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7 and the Land Transportation Office-7 will conduct a joint inspection tomorrow at the North Bus Terminal and the Cebu South Bus Terminal.

LTFRB-7 Director Rey Elnar said that they will set up a public assistance desks in strategic areas at the two bus terminals.

“This is also to ensure that bus drivers and conductors are not overcharging the fare,” he said.

Elnar said they will also check the documents of the buses to ensure that these are not colorum or operating illegally.

Under Joint Administrative Order 2014-01, operation of a colorum bus carries a penalty of P1 million and would result to the impounding of the unit.

“So far, wa nay nadakpan nga mga colorum buses. Hadlok na sila kay dako na kaayo ang penalty,” Elnar said.

As of yesterday, Elnar said he has issued 48 special permits for buses which will travel to Toledo City and Santander town.

Julieto Flores, spokesperson of the Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association, said that there are enough bus to cater to passengers in time for the Christmas holiday break.

LTFRB-7 and LTO-7 will also ensure that buses are road worthy and drivers are drug-free to avoid any untoward incidents.

Cebu has 450 buses operating and around 150 are mini-buses.

Special permit

LTFRB-7 said it has received a request from bus operators for special permits so they could cater to the demand to carry more passengers.

One request came from Vallacar Transit, which operates Ceres buses, asking for special permit for 40 buses. The permits are required to allow buses to operate outside their routes or travel lines.

Vallacars’ request was for Ceres buses to ply routes going towards towns and cities in southern Cebu like Santander and Toledo City.

Since it is expected that the public will rush to the different terminals, LTFRB-7 Director Reynaldo Elnar advised the passengers to go to the terminals as early as possible  to avoid the crowd.

He said they have so far not monitored any kolorum buses, or those that operate outside their travel lines without permits, because of the implementation of Joint Administrative Order, which imposes a significantly bigger penalty.

Earlier, Cebu South Bus Terminal Assistant Terminal Operations Manager Eddie Dusaban assured that preparations, including security measures, have already been made weeks before the Christmas season for the influx of passengers.

In relations to this, Elnar said their inspectors have also started checking CSBT, the |North Bus Terminal, and even public utility jeepney terminals.

He said they will conduct another inspection today to see if more could be done aside from checking the documents, especially registration and permits, of the buses.

Elnar said they would also check on their help desks, which were set up to aid passengers should they have questions and to also assist operators if they need to get special permits for the routes outside their units’ franchise. –  (FREEMAN)