RORO bus service back to normal

CEBU, Philippines - The roll-on/roll-off (RORO) services are now back to its normal operations in routes that were affected by super typhoon Yolanda.

"As of now, in fact, their operations in these areas are already back to normal," said Ahmed Cuizon, regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7.

Cuizon said that operators reported that there is a marked decreased in the number of passengers for the RORO routes.

In fact, he said that LTFRB has not issued any special permits to provincial  RORO buses in routes affected by Yolanda.

"As much as we wanted to, we were unable to issue special permits for RORO buses since the operators told us that their number of units on the intended routes were sufficient,"  Cuizon said.

Earlier, Secretary Joseph Abaya of the  Department of Transportation and Communication directed LTFRB to issue special permit for provincial buses from Cebu, Samar, Leyte, Davao and Metro Manila  for the deployment of additional units.

The issuance of special permits supposedly aimed at providing additional transportations for all affected residents to temporarily leave "ground zero" until situation normalizes.

It  would also give families and friends of the victims from unaffected provinces to visit them and their relatives who are in distress.— (FREEMAN)