CEBU CITY, Philippines—Empty seats and more buses marked the morning of Christmas eve on December 24, 2020 at the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT).
CSBT, the province’s largest bus terminal, accommodated around 15,000 passengers only since Wednesday evening, December 23, said Carmen Quijano, the terminal manager.
Quijano said the figures were a dramatic drop compared to those posted in previous years.
“We anticipated that there will be really few passengers this Christmas season because of restrictions brought by the pandemic,” said Quijano in Cebuano.
She said CSBT usually records around 100,000 passengers on Christmas Eve.
But as of 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 24, only a few passengers were seen sitting on the waiting area and seats were mostly vacant – this despite physical distancing markers on place.
There were also more buses parked on the terminal bays, and there were no queues extending outside terminal premises.
“If these were normal times, the terminal at this point would be really full and queues would reach outside in N. Bacalso Avenue,” said Quijano.
“But we’re grateful that crowd in CSBT is manageable and controllable as of this moment,” she added.
The CSBT manager also said they still prohibit entry of minors below 15 years old and seniors age 65 years old and above in compliance with existing rules from the Cebu City Government.
“The south bus terminal is owned and operated by the Cebu Provincial Capitol but since we’re located in Cebu City, we have to abide with the city’s rules”, Quijano explained.
She also said passengers are not permitted entry into the terminal if they cannot furnish identification cards (ID) or other similar documents proving their identity and age, and are not wearing face masks and face shields.
The Capitol is also managing the new Cebu North Bus Terminal (CNBT) at the outdoor parking area of SM City Cebu, wherein rules enforced in CSBT are also being applied.
Quijano said they recorded around 5,000 passengers in CNBT since Wednesday evening. /bmjo