Colorum tourist buses spoil field trip of school kids

Schoolchildren walk out of the buses after the LTFRB stops the rented vehicles from transporting the students to their field trip destinations. PHOTO courtesy of LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada

A scheduled field trip for schoolchildren was spoiled after a surprise inspection by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) at the Quezon City Circle revealed the tourist buses rented by the school were colorum.

LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada said that six buses of Cianzar Transport Services carrying students were scheduled to leave Friday noon, but an inspection revealed the buses were not granted franchise.

“It appears na yung anim na buses ng Cianzar ay mga colorum. Meron silang franchise verification sa amin, but these are not the buses na may prangkisa,” Lizada said in an audio recording sent to reporters via viber.

(Six of the buses from Cianzar are colorum. They have a franchise verification from the LTFRB but these are not the specific buses that the franchise were issued to.)

Lizada said Cianzar Transport’s applications for certificates of public convenience for the six buses were still pending before their office.

“’Yung ipinapagamit nila ngayon (sa mga estudyante), wala pa silang prangkisa, application pa lang ang meron sila, based on our records,” she said. “Dapat bago niyo binyahe, dapat sinigurado na may franchise at (registered) for hire.”

(The buses they used to ferry these students do not have franchise, only for application, based on our records. The company should have assured the franchise had been issued before these buses were allowed to go.)

Following the inspection, Lizada said the six buses would be impounded, stressing that the buses should not be allowed to travel since they had no franchise and no insurance.

The schoolchildren were then offloaded from the buses and were picked up by six other buses from another tourist bus operator, Lizada said. /jpv