First PH ‘landport’ promises to help ease Metro Manila traffic

CONVENIENCE UNDER ONE ROOF Ticketing counters, boarding gates and separate arrival and departure areas are some of the features of the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange which opened on Monday. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The country’s first “landport,” the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), opened on Monday to great fanfare and a bold pledge that it would not just be a world-class transport hub, but also a crucial step toward easing congestion in Metro Manila.

The PITX, situated on Coastal Road in Parañaque City, is an intermodal facility that houses buses, jeepneys, taxis and UV shuttles capable of ferrying 200,000 passengers daily between the capital and the nearby provinces of Cavite and Batangas.

Airport-like

A project of the Department of Transportation and MWM Terminals Inc., the PITX looks and feels strikingly similar to an airport—complete with boarding gates, separate arrival and departure areas, and soon, online booking.

There are also automated ticketing counters in the lobby that will enable passengers to select their bus seats.

Its lavish amenities could put even an airport to shame. Aside from a range of dining and shopping choices, the terminal will also have its own supermarket, pay lounges with showers and multifaith meditation room.

Duterte very impressed

Even the guest of honor at the inauguration, President Duterte was impressed.

“I am proud that they did this very beautiful structure. And it will serve the Filipino and that is very important,” he said.

“During our studies, passengers identified difficult transfers as the most pressing problem… There is no one facility where they can find all the transport options they need,” said MWM Terminals president Louie Ferrer.

Previously known as the Integrated Transport System-Southwest Terminal, the public-private partnership project was awarded by the Aquino administration to MWM Terminals in January 2015.

It was aimed at easing congestion in Metro Manila through the creation of intermodal hubs where provincial buses would disgorge passengers to transfer to other in-city modes of transport such as elevated railways, city buses and UV Express vans. —With a report from Julie M. Aurelio

Read: Duterte ‘impressed’ with first ‘landport’ in PH