Bus operators back scrapping common terminals

MANILA, Philippines - The Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines (PBOAP) yesterday expressed “full and unequivocal support” for the move of Albay Gov. Joey Salceda to scrap common terminals for provincial buses.

PBOAP president Alex Yague said provincial buses, which make up an insignificant slice of total registered vehicles, are the perennial scapegoats for the traffic problem in Metro Manila.

“In developed countries, buses are the solution to vehicle decongestion and not the problem,” he said.

Salceda has asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from constructing common bus terminals as these terminals supposedly discriminate against the bus commuters from the provinces, especially the Bicol region.

Yague said the “new economy,” particularly the business process outsourcing sector, “is heavily dependent on provincial buses to move workers from the BPO offices to their homes in provinces near Metro Manila.”

He asked the government to review its transport and traffic management programs to give priority to modes of mass transport such as provincial buses.