PITX gearing up for Holy Week travel rush; 1.7 M passengers expected

The Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange,  (File photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Some 1.7 million passengers are expected to pass through the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange during the Holy Week, PITX Corporate Affairs head Jason Salvador said on Sunday.

Salvador, in a dzBB interview, said passengers are expected to start amassing at the terminal starting Friday, March 22.

“We expect for the passenger (volume) to be spread out. We expect that by Friday, the influx of our passengers will begin until they return on Easter Sunday. All in all, we expect 1.7 million passengers,” he said.

This figure is bigger than PITX’s expected passengers for the Holy Week in 2023 which is at around 1.2 million.

To prepare for this year’s surge over the 10-day period, Salvador said that PITX authorities are ensuring that the terminal has sufficient number of bus units to serve commuters.

He explained that officials from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulator Board will be on standby at the terminal to issue public utility vehicles (PUVs) permits to operate in a different route when the need arises.

He added that among the preparations they are doing to make sure that commuters are safe includes the conduct of road worthiness assessments of PUVs and the conditions of their drivers.

“We are also conducting random drug tests and breathalyzer tests […] apart from this, we are also making sure that the drivers have replacements because if they get tired, the safety of our passengers may be compromised,” he explained in Filipino.

Moreover, Salvador said that passengers who will go to their provinces from Metro Manila and vice versa must try to “travel light.”

“Imagine if you have so much to carry, so many things to bring, and so many people around, you’ll be the one having a hard time. For your own convenience, let’s try to travel light,” he noted.

Passengers at PITX are also allowed to travel with their pets, given that they would be attended to properly.

“My request for them is to just put [their pets] in a proper carrier and if they can put a diaper on [the pets]. But we allowed it.”