Buses traversing Metro to get first speed limiters—LTFRB chief

MANILA, Philippines – There will be no more road escapades for Metro Manila buses.

This as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will soon require public utility buses to have speed limiters by May, its chairman Winston Ginez said in an interview at Inquirer Radio 990 AM on Friday.

Ginez said that the installation would start with the 10,000 provincial buses plying the North and South Luzon Expressway to and from Metro Manila.

“The suppliers could not just put these devices in all the 27,000 buses all over the Philippines. So we are looking at starting with provincial buses within Metro Manila,” Ginez said in Filipino.

Ginez explained the three kinds of speed limiters – the active type which would immediately stop a bus when it reaches a speed limit, a passive one which would emit an alarm instead of stopping the vehicle, and a third one equipped with a global positioning system (GPS).

“We are already on the consultation stage (regarding the speed of the buses) with the University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation Studies,” Ginez said. “On the first meetings, we already mentioned the challenges of determining the top speed for these buses.”

Ginez added that they have proposed, and were hopeful, that the maximum speed for buses on toll roads would be 80 kilometers per hour and 60 kph for Commonwealth Avenue and the rest of Metro Manila.

In terms of the equipment, Ginez said that the LTFRB would never engage in the supply, rather the board would accredit suppliers from whom bus operators can buy the gadgets.

“The LTFRB would never engage in the supply business of these devices, what we do as a regulatory board is to set the standards and the specifications (on the speed limiters and the GBPS),” Ginez said.

The board has been under pressure to put cautionary measures on speeding vehicles especially after two major bus accidents.

In December 2013, a Don Mariano Transit bus fell off the Skyway in Parañaque city and crashed on a van below, killing 20 people.

In February 2014, a G.V. Florida bus tumbled down a ravine in Bontoc, Mountain Province and killed 15 people, among them artists and activist-comedian Arvin “Tado” Jimenez.

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