Sunday, March 02, 2008 Bus owners oppose entry of new player
THE Cebu South Mini-Bus Operators Association (CSMBOA) has urged the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to reject the application of Vallacar Transit Corp. to ply the Argao town-Cebu City route.
CSMBOA president Julie Flores said that if LTFRB 7 Romulo Bernardes will approve the application, the small-time mini-bus operators will go bankrupt because they cannot compete with a big-time bus company like Vallacar, which owns Ceres Liner.
“We learned that Ceres Liner will soon be fielding units plying Cebu City-Argao with the approval of LTFRB. As one group (CSMBOA), we feel we will be much affected if that will push through,” read the letter from Flores to Bernardes dated Feb.25.
CSMBOA is composed of 45 members operating 129 mini-bus units in southern Cebu.
Flores said the LTFRB should instead focus on investigating the several buses that operate outside its designated line and the rampant cutting of trips.
He said some Ceres Liner buses, which are only allowed to operate in Oriental Negros and Negros Occidental, are now running in Cebu. The other units supposedly bound for Mabinay, Oriental Negros only transport passengers up to the wharf in Santander, Cebu.
Flores said Cebu bus operators are already suffering financial losses due to high prices of fuel, spare parts and tires.
In a meeting at the Cebu South Bus Terminal last Feb. 29, Flores and other CSMBOA officers— Rexy Cañon, Abet delos Santos Kong and Felimon Villadar—reiterated their opposition to the approval of the Cebu City-Argao route for Ceres Liner.
“Allowing Ceres Liner to slowly kill the Cebu operators will result to a monopolistic land transport system,” Flores said.
Bernardes and other LTFRB officials could not be contacted for comment at press time.
Meanwhile, Director Raul Aguilos of the Land Transportation Office yesterday said he will order an investigation on the allegations of CSMBOA that Ceres Liner buses are operating outside their lines and cutting trips.
Aguilos said that if Ceres Liner has 100 buses and only 20 buses are allowed to operate in Cebu, only 20 buses can run on Cebu roads.
However, he said that there are exceptional cases such as during Holy Week when the firm is allowed to operate not more than an additional 10 percent of its buses in a regular route. (EOB)
