NO question about the Cebu South Bus Terminal having become a public facility for land travelers like no other.

What Cebuanos are seeing is a paradigm shift in handling bus terminals.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

So what was the old setup like?

A system bordering on anarchy, with passengers either heading to the parked buses or minibuses on their own or being guided (sometimes dragged) there by competing barkers.

At the not-so-well kept and hot waiting area, virtual chaos.

As for the toilets, they were smelly.

When the number of passengers peaked, especially during the holidays (Holy Week, All Souls/Saints Day, etc.) enterprising people sold bus/minibuses seats to the highest bidder, or passengers either clambered up vehicle windows or wrestled with each other to be seated.

And despite the deployment of cops, the terminal still had its share of thugs, pickpockets, snatchers and swindlers.

Changes

The new south bus terminal setup copies that of airport terminals, featuring an air-conditioned waiting lounge with flat-screen TV sets and cozy seats, food outlets, snack bars and souvenir shops and clean restrooms.

Announcement of arrivals and departures of buses/minibuses is done through a paging system and passengers go through designated boarding gates for a more systematic embarkation.

Obviously, this setup gives the bus terminal management a better way of securing the passengers from the criminally inclined.

Terminal fee

What turned out to be controversial is the imposition of P5 bus terminal fee, which also functions as boarding pass.

Public opinion is split on the issue, with a number of passengers with few pesos to spare approving it, considering the comfort and security the new setup provides.

Those critical of the imposition can be divided into: one, passengers with meager resources and who find the P5 an added burden; two, those who have not seen the improvements at the terminal and yet conclude that the collection is unfair; and three, the usual critics of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Review

But while Capitol officials may be correct in saying that changes, especially “paradigm shifts,” always invite criticisms at the initial stages of implementation, there’s also the point that changes, to be accepted, should first be a product of consensus and then should be promoted aggressively.

Capitol, however, is already past the consensus-building and promotion stage, but it pays to revisit the terminal fee imposition with the honest complaints of poor commuters in mind.