More workers avail of Ce-Bus program

SINCE the news of free bus rides for people working at the IT Park was published, the Cebu City government expects an increase in the volume of passengers who want to avail of the benefit.

The Department of General Services (DGS) and the Call Center Program, which supervise the free transportation services to I.T. Park from Metro Colon and Barangay Mabolo, noted more passengers taking the bus.

DGS oversees the operations of Ce-Bus,where four Kaohsiung buses are assigned to ferry employees from I.T. Park to Metro Colon, and vice versa, with stops covering the downtown and uptown areas.

“There were only a few passengers that boarded the buses during its first day of operations (which was on Sunday midnight) but last Monday, it was different. We don’t have any figures as to how many but it’s certain that there’s an increase in the volume of passengers,” DGS head Ronald Malacora said.

Ce-Bus was launched on Sunday evening (November 11).

The Call Center Program, on the other hand, is in-charge of the lone 30-seater coaster bus deployed on the intersection of M.J. Cuenco Avenue and Juan Luna Avenue in Barangay Mabolo.

The coaster’s operations started on Monday evening (November 12) or a day after Ce-Bus started with its first trip at 9 p.m.
Nanette Garong, director of the Call Center Program, announced yesterday, that they decided to move the first trip of the coaster bus to an earlier time due to public demand.

Instead of 9 p.m., its first trip will be at 8:30 p.m. The last trip was also moved to 4:30 a.m.

“During our dry run last Monday, we found out that the travel time from Barangay Mabolo to IT Park is 30 minutes,” said Garong.

“But we realized there are some who have work at 9 p.m. That is why we decided to move the schedule of its first trip to an earlier time which is at 8:30 p.m.,” she added.

Garong also said the coaster was fully-packed during its first day of operations, recording about 100 passengers in all nine trips made from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“Some of the passengers even decided to just stand. Because from what we’ve learned, they feel safer when they ride the bus,” she added.

The city deployed a total of five buses this week in consonance with the promise of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to ensure the safety of workers in business processing outsource (BPO) industries, following the killing of call center agent Loraine Temple.