VARIOUS organizations from the transport sector are asking the government to allow provincial bus companies to use their Metro Manila terminals to mitigate the transportation woes of hundreds of thousands of commuters daily.
The Nagkakaisang Samahan ng Mga Nangangasiwa ng Panlalawigang Bus sa Pilipinas, Inc., several unions of transport workers, and affected commuters also appealed to the IATF, Department of Transporation, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to lift the prohibition on the use of private terminals in light of the reopened economy and alert level 2 status.
They said this would lessen the burden of the passengers coming from and going to the provinces. As things stand, commuters from Central and Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao disembark in areas too far away from their final destinations in Metro Manila.
For instance, they said passengers coming from Central and Northern Luzon must alight at the Philippine Sports Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, or Valenzuela City Gateway Terminal.
Those from Mindanao, the Visayas, and Southern Luzon alight at SM Sta. Rosa Lavina or PITx Terminal in Paranaque City.
The transport organizations said passengers are left with no choice but to take taxicabs or AUVs to get to their final destinations in Metro Manila, running the risk of contracting COVID-19 and other kinds of disease.
The group of provincial bus operators, consisting of 70 percent of all provincial bus franchises in the country, said the pandemic left them with reduced, or even zero, income when lockdowns were imposed in most parts of the country.
