The North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City will continue to accommodate northbound travellers on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. | CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Unmindful of the downpour caused by Typhoon Ursula, travellers continue to crowd by the North Bus Terminal (NBT) in Mandaue City to go home to their provinces.
Police Corporal Marianne Sumarago, in-charge of the terminal’s Police Assistance Desk, said around 500 passengers arrived at the terminal since Tuesday morning, December 24, 2019.
But the number of passengers was fewer compared to the volume that crowded the terminal that is located in Barangay Subangdaku, in the last few days.
The reduction in the number of travellers resulted from the cancellation of sea travels starting on Monday afternoon, Dec. 23, due to Typhoon Ursula, Sumarago said.
Read More: Signal No. 3 raised over Camotes as Ursula intensifies into a typhoon
“Wala man silay mahimo kay balibaran man gyud sila dinhi. Nisakay na lang sila balik og taxi balik sa ilaha kay kay wala man gyuy pabiyaheon nga barko,” Sumarago told CDN Digital.
(There is nothing that they can do since no one would issue them with travel tickets. They are forced to go back home because of the cancelled trips.)
Aside from buses that ply routes to the northern parts of Cebu province, the terminal also caters to passengers who are bound for the northwestern part of the island, Bantayan Island and the neighboring provinces of Leyte and Negros Occidental.
Ariel Salumag, a bus dispatcher at the NBT, said that the availability of buses is not a problem.
He said that they will resume accepting passengers for inter-island trips as soon as the Philippine Coast Guard lifts the gale warning now affecting Cebu and other islands in the Visayas.
For those who will be travelling to the countryside, Salumag said that they will continue their operations on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. / dcb