Transport agency clarifies MMDA rule

Buses line up during bad traffic on EDSA’s southbound lane. This photo was taken in December 2021. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inqurier)

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Wednesday warned it would hold operators accountable if they won’t carry out trips “at any given time,” but it also clarified the window scheme announced by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

LTFRB executive director Maria Kristina Cassion responded to the travel advisories posted by some provincial bus companies, including Victory Liner Inc., Bataan Transit Bus Co., and First North Luzon Transit Inc., on their social media pages saying departures and arrivals from their respective Metro Manila terminals will only take place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., as directed by the MMDA.

The MMDA announced last month the return of provincial buses along Edsa by implementing a two-week dry run.

Cassion clarified that the window scheme did not mean limiting public land transportation services from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

She noted that the LTFRB issued permits to provincial bus operators “to transport passengers at any given time when there is passenger demand, and not only at nighttime as they have announced in several platforms.”

She said the buses’ origins and points of destination beyond the said window hours must only be at specific integrated terminals where city buses can ferry the passengers:

• Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange for buses coming from and going to Calabarzon provinces, Mimaropa and Bicol
• Northern Luzon Express Terminal to those going to and coming from the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley Region and Central Luzon
• Santa Rosa Integrated Terminal to those to and from Visayas and Mindanao provinces.

The main terminal at the Araneta Center Cubao can only be a point of origin or destination to those going to and coming from Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

RELATED STORY

MMDA launches two-week dry run for return of provincial buses on Edsa