With just two days before December 25, thousands of passengers continued to flock at the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) on Sunday in the hope of catching a trip to their respective hometowns to be with their families in time for noche buena.
CSBT manager Jonathan Tumulak, who personally manned the queues of passengers going to their respective bus lines, said the volume of passengers coming at the terminal started to surge since Friday, December 21.
“As expected, since Friday nagsugod na og daghan ang mga pasahero. Mas nidaghan pa og maayo sukad gahapon hangtod karon. Nag-expect pod mi nga mas modaghan pa ni ugma sa buntag, sakto pod nga makapamalit sila usa mamauli,” Tumulak told Cebu Daily News.
(The volume of passengers started to rise last Friday. More came yesterday (Saturday) until today (Sunday). We are also expecting that more passengers will be traveling tomorrow morning as they have to complete their Christmas shopping first before they head home.)
December 24 is a special non-working holiday in the country based on Proclamation 269, which was issued last year by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The queues of passengers for buses, particularly those bound to the south and southwestern part of the province, even reached outside the terminal.
But Tumulak said that despite the volume of passengers, the situation at the terminal remained manageable because of the orderly queuing process they implemented.
Tumulak also assured the safety of the passengers, even those who are lining up outside the terminal.
Uniformed personnel from the Cebu City Police Office and the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) were deployed outside the terminal to man the flow of passengers and secure the perimeter.
LGUs ready to deploy buses
Meanwhile, the CSBT management will also coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) in the south for the possible deployment of LGU-owned buses today.
Tumulak said they would assess the volume of passengers arriving at the terminal until Sunday night before giving the cue to the LGUs to deploy their buses.
Last November, CSBT also asked the LGUs to deploy their buses to service stranded passengers bound to their respective towns or cities.
The Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) has also deployed personnel to inspect the buses before they leave the terminal. A bus was not allowed to leave the terminal on Saturday after LTFRB-7 inspectors found that one of the tires of the bus lacked a bolt.
LTFRB-7 Regional Director Eduardo Montealto Jr. also ensured there are enough buses bound for the northern and southern sections of the province, particularly that the agency has granted 16 special permits to augment the number of buses heading for these areas.
However, he said traffic congestion in some exit points have caused a delay in the turnaround time of these buses.
Montealto also warned drivers and operators not to take advantage of the peak season by overloading their units or overcharging the passengers.
Montealto said personnel from the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the CPPO have set up checkpoints along the bus routes to ensure that these buses are not overloaded.
He said passengers were also encouraged to report overcharging.
Fines for overcharging range from P5,000 to P15,000 with the possibility of revoking the franchise if a bus company is found to have repeatedly committed overcharging, Montealto said.