CSBT records 70K passengers heading south for Kalag-kalag

A dispatcher holds up a signage of their bus route in Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) to call for passengers to get tickets from them amid an influx of southbound passengers heading home on Oct. 30, 2019 in time for the observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day on Nov. 1 and 2, 2019. | CDND Photo/ Raul Constantine Tabanao

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Around 70,000 passengers traveled through the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) from October 31 to November 1, 2019, in time for the observance of  All Saints’ Day and Souls’ Day.

Lawyer Roy Salubre, provincial treasurer and one of the in-charge in the operation of the terminal, said the bulk of the travellers came on October 31 when most public and private institutions ceased operation to give time for their workers to travel to their hometowns in southern Cebu for the holidays and the long weekend.

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Salubre said they would benchmark on the measures that they have put in place in the terminal for this travel season for the improvements in the Capitol-run terminal.

Among these measures that will stay even beyond the All Souls’ Day travel peak season are single entry and single exit points, and the “No ticket, no entry” policy at the terminal.

The single entry and exit points in the terminal, Salubre said, made them better manage the  traffic of passengers coming in and out of the facility.

CSBT also implemented since Tuesday, October 29, the ‘No ticket, no entry’ policy where non-passengers could no longer enter the terminal. With the policy, passengers need to claim tickets at the bus lines’ booths outside the passenger waiting areas before they can be allowed to enter.

“Sa atong pagpahigayon sa alag-kalag diin daghan gyud ang mga pasahero, atong gipangingkamutan nga ang safety and security mosaka gyud siya. Mao na nga atong gi-impose ang no ticket, no entry nga scheme,” Salubre said in a CDN Digital Live interview.

(In our observance of kalag-kalag, when passenger traffic is high, we made sure that safety and security are also heightened.That’s why we imposed the ‘no ticket, no entry’  scheme.)

Salubre said he and the CSBT management will look into ways of improving the new measures in place at CSBT to “integrate comfort and convenience into the safety of the passengers.”

Salubre said that no untoward incident was reported inside the terminal through the two-day travel peak.

He said they will now start with their preparation for the return of the passengers starting tomorrow, November 2 until Monday, November 4.

Salubre said they will now focus more on effective traffic management of the buses that come inside the terminal to ensure that these do not clog the terminal./elb