Bus ban issue gains momentum
The crucial question to ask is: Will the next administration be able to competently take the public out of commuter hell and the provincial bus industry out of the doldrums?
It’s very tempting for me to write about the recent presidential elections and its effect on business. I will definitely write down my thoughts and feelings about it soon. For now, however, let me acknowledge the numerous readers who commended me for my piece on the Edsa bus ban.
The positive reaction I received manifests the kind of impact that the convoluted traffic management plan —put forth by government agencies tasked with ensuring smoother travel along metro thoroughfares—has on motorists and commuters alike.
My hope is that the incoming administration would have the competence to learn from the failures of our recent traffic managers to once and for all come up with doable solutions to unclog Edsa, without sacrificing the bottomline of bus companies and the convenience of commuters. Businesswise has been consistent in its call for an efficient mass transportation system in lieu of erecting environmentally hostile
expressways, which in the long run will just do more harm than good.
I’d like to personally thank former Senator Nikki Coseteng who was the first to give her valuable two cents in reaction to our column. She narrated to me her experience when she personally tested public commuting— one tricycle and one jeepney ride and about a hundred-meter walk just to reach her target destination: from Cubao to the government designated bus terminal in Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Her experiment was borne out of the countless complaints she personally heard and read from various media platforms. She never expected that her experience would be the fulcrum of a mounting clamor for the country’s traffic managers to use common sense, instead of spewing confusing directives, in solving Edsa traffic.
On March 8, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) “allowed” the operations of the Provincial Public Utility Buses (PUBS) on inter-regional routes. The move was supposed to serve as a reprieve from the negative impact of the two-year Covid-19 pandemic on the livelihood of provincial bus drivers and owners. The caveat was that they were still prevented from using their own terminals located in Metro Manila.
In reaction to our February 10 column, Coseteng said: “I’m actually advocating for the same reasons cited by thousands of commuters affected by this flawed government project in your column, [although] I don’t have an interest here. I’m not a bus operator and neither am I running for a government post.”
She decried the government policy for being “not only flawed but insensitive to the plight of both the transport sector and the riding public.”
Memorandum Circular 2022-023 of the LTFRB mandated all PUB operators with valid Certificate of Public Convenience, Provisional Authority (PA), and Special Permits to use only designated end-point terminals to and from Metro Manila.
While at first blush the policy seemed innocuous, Coseteng said it still prohibited provincial buses from using their respective terminals in Metro Manila. Commuters, she lamented, would still need to take several hellish rides to reach their respective destinations.
Coseteng’s crusade achieved countless milestones: It got the attention of the LTFRB, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and politicians who then rode on the issue leading to a call for a Congressional probe.
The crucial question to ask is: Will the next administration be able to competently take the public out of commuter hell and the provincial bus industry out of the doldrums?