12 colorum vehicles apprehended

Operatives of the Land Transportation Office-7 yesterday apprehended 12 colorum vehicles in Lapu-Lapu City.

LTO-7 Director Victor Caindec said that two of the vehicles are tourist buses while 10 are tourist vans.

"Klaro nga ang karga sa duha ka tourist bus mga Chinese. Unyaang duha ka drivers nagdumili sila pagsurrender sa bus. That's why we asked assistance from the Highway Patrol Group. Na impound na ang buses," Caindec said.

Caindec said that the two buses were not brand new units as required under the rules. The tourist vans, on the other hand, were registered as private vehicles but were caught ferrying foreign tourists.

Meanwhile, the Cebu South Bus Terminal(CSBT) implemented the longest contingency plan last weekend because of the high influx of passengers.

CSBT manager Joey Herrera said they implemented their Plan B for 13 hours last weekend.

Plan B refers to a contingency plan wherein the central portion of the terminal is utilized as an additional queueing area for the passengers and taxis are no longer permitted to get inside. Plan A is when the queueng area is extended up to the back portion of CSBT and the Land Transportation Office -7.

"Maka implement man mi'g Plan B when it is busy but usually it will only last up to three (3) hours," he told THE FREEMAN.

He added that the passenger estimate last Friday to Sunday was 115,000. The terminal only has a sitting capacity of 800 at any given time. A total of 2,377 buses travelled out of the terminal in the threeday period.

Herrera added that the people who travelled to vote for the barangay elections was "much more" compared to the busy days at the terminal during special holidays like the Holy Week or Christmas season. The bulk of the passengers flocked starting Friday afternoon to Sunday.

Herrera extended his 'sincere apologies' to the riding public for the inconvenience they experienced.

He said the passengers had to wait for an average of six hours in queue before they get to ride a bus. The comfort rooms also ran out of water for flushing. Some priority customers such as senior citizens and pregnant women were also not immediately accommodated.

On the matter of overcharging, Herrera explained that the CSBT no longer holds control of the fare rates. He said it is for the Land Transportation and Franchising Board to handle. —

Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon and Lorraine Mitzi A. Ambrad/FPL