Cebu City to deploy buses for stranded commuters in Monday’s transport strike

Kaohsiung buses, Ceres buses and Vans-for-Hire (V-Hire) will be on standby to help ferry commuters who will be stranded in tomorrow’s transport strike.

Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) operations chief Francisco Ouano said the city is ready for the transport strike spearheaded by Piston Cebu, which has announced that at least 700 driver-members will be participating in the protest action.

Piston is leading the nationwide “Tigil Pasada” to protest the phase out of old jeepneys.

The “Tigil Pasada” will start at 4 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Monday followed by a protest rally in front of Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Central Visayas (LTFRB 7) office at the North Reclamation Area.

But the Cebu Integrated Transport Service Multipurpose Cooperative (Citrasco), which has at least 1,000 jeepney driver members, will not join Monday’s transport strike as Cebu City’s public schools will also hold classes despite the strike.

“We will start monitoring as early as 4 a.m. If we see stranded passengers in a certain area, we will deploy the vehicles,” Ouano said.

The ride on the 15 city-owned Kaohsiung buses that will be deployed will be free of charge, Ouano said.

Another 15 Ceres buses and more than 20 V-Hires will also be available at a fixed fare of P10 per passenger, according to Ouano.

Ouano said the city’s preparations were finalized during a meeting with Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Central Visayas (LTFRB 7) and other stakeholders at the City Hall this morning.

He added that the LTFRB has granted special permits to the Ceres buses to allow them to ply outside their approved routes on Monday.