Drop window hours scheme for prov’l buses, gov’t urged

Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer (file)

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) should drop its window hours scheme for provincial buses in Metro Manila as the policy is “inequitable, unfair, ineffective and just completely useless.”

House ways and means panel chair and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda also criticized the “finger-pointing” over which agency imposed the rule that caused confusion and inconvenience.

In a statement on Friday, Salceda outlined his three “demands” from the two agencies, or else “Congress will subpoena these agencies to explain.”

“First, just drop all these unclear restrictions on provincial buses in Edsa. Second, if they will issue guidelines, they should be jointly issued, so we don’t see a repeat of this awkward finger pointing. Third, all transport policies of the LTFRB and the MMDA should be properly consulted with commuter groups and should have a clear, scientific case,” the economist turned lawmaker said.

He pointed out that “if you have to roll back every pronouncement about these policies, maybe they just don’t make sense. So, just drop them.”

“These two agencies should shape up on transport. Stop throwing provincianos under the bus when the clear problem in Edsa is too many cars and not enough trains and buses,” Salceda added.

Under the policy, provincial bus operators may only use their terminals in the National Capital Region for departures and arrivals from 10 p.m. to 5 am.

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