Bus firm cites improved safety record since bad 2010 ranking

A bus company maintains that its safety record has significantly improved since being tagged by transport authorities for operating some of the most accident-prone buses in Metro Manila.

The management of Jam Liner Inc. was reacting to an article published in the Inquirer Metro page on Jan. 15, which cited the company as having the third highest number of accidents resulting in deaths and injuries in 2010 and the first half of 2011.

The ranking was based on accident reports submitted to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). The story was a sidebar to an article on the LFTRB order revoking the franchise of Don Mariano Transit Corp. over the Dec. 16, 2013, Skyway accident that killed 21 people.

The company did not dispute the LTFRB data but said “this three-year-old report does not accurately reflect the current excellent performance of Jam Liner.”

“We at Jam Liner have used this record to tirelessly and consistently spur improvement,” the company president, Dennise Trajano, said in a letter to the Inquirer.

Trajano said the transport firm based in Sta. Rosa, Laguna province, was “proud to state that compared to years 2010 to 2012, the accident record for 2013 dramatically decreased by more than 50 percent.”

The Jam Liner president attributed this to several measures undertaken by the company: “professionalization” of bus drivers and attendants through workshops; compliance with the labor department order abolishing the “boundary” salary system; recruitment of “veteran professionals” to handle maintenance, operations, safety and security; installation of global positioning system  devices to monitor bus speed; and the upgrade of Jam’s bus fleet and brake systems, among others.

Trajano also cited the firm’s “continuous recruitment of lady bus drivers,” and the use of personality tests on current drivers and applicants. The adoption of such tests, he said, was in view of “a recent research (showing) that an introvert person is more likely” to figure in a road accident.