MANILA, Philippines—Bus companies better be on their best behavior: The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is dead-set on making sure public utility vehicles (PUVs) are “roadworthy.”
On Saturday, it was the turn of the Pangasinan Five Star Bus Company Inc. to be subjected to LTFRB’s scrutiny. Starting 6 a.m., the bus company’s 365 units were subjected to a simultaneous inspection in their garages and terminals throughout Luzon before they were allowed to ply their routes.
“This ocular check is part of our regular routine inspection of bus companies’ terminals and their fleet to ensure that their units are roadworthy before they ply their authorized routes,” LTFRB Chair Winston Ginez said in a statement.
Earlier, Ginez also explained that the inspection was in line with the mandate of the LTFRB’s newly established PUV Inspection Team, which required a P20-million infusion from the Congress.
As of noontime on Saturday, the LTFRB was already able to inspect a total of 208 units of Five Star’s terminals in Cubao, Pasay, Balintawak, and Santiago City in Isabela province.
Simultaneous inspections were also held in Tarlac province, Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija, San Carlos, Dagupan and Alaminos in Pangasinan province.
The inspections in Pasay and Cubao uncovered minor violations such as broken windshields and rear windows. Other buses were found to lack seat belts, PUV markings, and operational fire extinguishers.
But serious franchise violations were also discovered, such as the tampering of chassis numbers or the use of unauthorized engines on five of the bus company’s units in Balintawak.
“As soon as we receive the final report from our teams, we will decide on the penalties that we will impose on the bus company, particularly for the serious violation of using unauthorized or tampered engines. [We will also be] grounding units found not roadworthy to ply their route for the safety of bus passengers,” Ginez said.
In a press conference on Friday, Ginez explained that Congress allotted P20 million for the LTFRB to be able to establish the 145-member PUV inspection team nationwide.
With such an investment, “our commitment to Congress was that one of our major final outputs will be the inspection of 100,000 PUV units in 2015,” Ginez said.
When the PUV inspection team was established at the start of the year, the LTFRB estimated that there were 400,000 PUVs across the Philippines.
Staying true to their commitment to Congress, the LTFRB has been conducting regular inspections on buses. Following an accident on Edsa, Quezon City in February, in which a sedan was crushed by a De la Rosa Transit bus, the LTFRB grounded for inspection the bus company’s 84 units.
READ: Collision causes bus to roll over, flatten sedan on Edsa
This was followed by the inspection of 77 units of HM Transport, and more than 50 units of the BBL bus line, Ginez said.