NON-OPERATION OF BUS TRIPS TO MM

THE decision to restore daily regular trips from Pangasinan to Metro Manila (MM) lies with the bus companies not, the provincial government.

This was stressed by Vice Governor Mark Lambino in last week’s session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), who said the provincial legislative body already passed a resolution interposing no objection for the resumption of operations of buses that will service their old routes from their terminals in Pangasinan to Metro Manila and vice versa.

Vice Governor Lambino said: “We would like to stress to all our kababayans that as far as the province of Pangasinan is concerned, wala po tayong objection na bumiyahe ang ating mga buses. Ang bola ngayon ay nandon na sa decision ng mga bus operators.”

Lambino made the clarification because the SP and the provincial government are being blamed partly by local residents for not lifting a finger to help restore public transport from Pangasinan to Metro Manila and vice versa for benefit of Pangasinenses.

He clarified that it is not the officials of the province that is preventing the buses from plying to their old routes. The decision now rests in the hands of the bus operators,

According to Lambino: “Hindi natin pinipigillan ang pag-uwi ng ating mga kababayan sa kanilang probinsiya ngayong  Pasko”.

His statement was backed by Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Rhodyn Oro, a member of the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)

The “no-objection” resolution was forwarded to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) as well as the national IATF for their consideration after IATF issued its resolution temporarily banning provincial buses from entering Metro Manila and directed the use of Integrated Terminal Exchange instead to contain the spread of the coronavirus diseases.

LTFRB used the IATF resolution as basis for its order to direct the provincial buses commuting passengers from the provinces in the north to use the North Luzon Express Terminal in Bocaue, Bulacan to unload and load their passengers. This was opposed by the bus operators since they have their respective terminals in Metro Manila and objected to being made to pay P1 million monthly for use of NLET.

But prior to such order, LTFRB already issued permits to several other bus companies  operating in other provinces that allowed them to load and unload passengers at their respective terminals in Metro Manila.

Presently, Victory Liner and Five Star buses serve Dagupan City to Tarlac and Clark City only. Passengers need to transfer to another bus from Tarlac /Clark City to Metro Manila. (Leonardo Micua) 

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