Passengers rush to a waiting bus for their ride home at the Cebu South Bus Terminal. (CDN File Photo)
The Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) management will hire job order employees to help address the recurring issue of passengers being declined to board buses for long-distance trips during peak travel days despite the passengers waiting in line for hours for their turn to board the buses.
Joey Herrera, CSBT manager, said the issue is especially problematic during weekends and holidays when passengers flock to the terminal to get to their respective destinations in the south of Cebu.
Instead of augmenting their blue guards, Herrera said that the CSBT will hire job orders employees who would report for at least three days in a week to act as information and guidance officers, especially when passenger influx is high.
He said that the JO employees would be responsible for guiding passengers to board the correct buses and instructing tourists who are not familiar with the routes on what buses to take to get to their destinations.
Herrera said the decision was made after a meeting with bus operators at the Capitol last Friday.
He appealed to the bus operators to help the CSBT management to explain to the passengers why they were sometimes turned down from boarding certain buses despite their destinations being located along the route where the buses were scheduled to ply.
“Mao na nga mu-hire ta, I have the approval of the HR already nga mu-hire mi ug three days in a week pa-trabahoon para kanang ma-ingon nato nga information officer and guidance officer sa weekend na ana ra man gyud ta ma-busy ba, ana ra man gyud ta ma-problema,” he said. “So instead of blue guards nga budget, mu-hire ta og JO lang, sa weekend nga trabahante para makatabang ani nga concern.”
Governor Hilario Davide III, who was also present during the bus operators’ meeting, likewise urged the operators to report erring CSBT personnel to the management.
In a text message, Herrera said that the target date for the start of the hiring of job order employees will be on the second half of February.
“The budget is under the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) na security augmentation which is P2.5 million,” he said. “Since it is under MOOE, pwede ra siya magamit.”