Cebu City, Philippines—The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) has declined the application for renewal of eight franchises of school buses in the region.
LTFRB-7 regional director Eduardo Montealto Jr. said that they denied the renewal of these franchises after they found out that these school buses have already reached its maximum age limit.
“They’ve already reached the age limit and they already need to be phased-out,” Montealto said.
Montealto said that based on their guidelines, vans that are used as school service have an age limit of 13 years. Buses, mini buses, and coasters have an age limit of 15 years.
School services operating without a franchise are considered colorum.
Colorum vans that will be caught still being used as school service will be fined P200,000. For coasters, mini buses and buses, the fine is P1 million. Colorum vehicles, once caught, will also be impounded.
Yesterday, June 3, 2019, the agency launched their Oplan Balik Eskwela program, wherein the agency has intensified their campaign on inspecting school buses from different schools in the region.
“We will be visiting their garage in order to ensure the road worthiness of these school services,” Montealto said.
Montealto said that since last week, they already started conducting the inspection on school buses.
He urged school administrations to make sure that their school buses are equipped with dash cams, cctv and fire extinguisher, and their drivers should undergo Drivers’ Academy seminar. /bmjo