Long lines for boat, bus tickets

Passengers had to queue for several hours to buy boat tickets, and authorities had to issue special permits for buses, as hundreds of thousands of people travel to their provinces to celebrate New Year.

Pedro Obaldo, 57, said he stood in line for about six hours last Friday to get a ticket for Samar, his hometown.

“I arrived in the ticketing office at 10:00 a.m. but I was able to buy tickets at 4:00 in the afternoon,” he told Cebu Daily News. “Although it was very tiring, we had to endure the hot weather and be patient with the long line because we need to get home to celebrate New Year with the whole family.”

He was supposed to leave last night so he thought buying a ticket Friday morning was early enough. But he was proven wrong, as all vessels going to Borongan, Samar were already fully booked. He had no choice but to go home via Ormoc City last night.

As of December 27, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Central Visayas recorded 50,715 passengers coming to Cebu and 44,254 passengers leaving Cebu. Despite the crowd, PCG Central Visayas District Commander William Melad said that no problems were encountered during their inspections of passenger vessels.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 issued special permits for buses, with LTFRB-7 Director Ahmed Cuizon adding that more special permits were issued this year compared to last year.

Starting from Dec. 17, LTFRB-7 has issued 64 special permits for additional buses and 59 special permits for Public Utility Jeeps (PUJ).