OFFICIALS of the Cebu North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City will allow travelers to wait for buses at their facility until Sunday, March 29, 2020.
Travelers going to northern Cebu will still have time to go home to their hometowns before the Mandaue City government implements the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on Monday, March 30.
“We might not wait until midnight to close. If there is no passenger left, we will close immediately,” said Zosimo Jumao-as, Cebu North Bus Terminal general manager.
He urged the passengers to travel early on Sunday, March 29, to avoid the long queues.
“We have received a copy of the executive orders from the province, Cebu City and Mandaue City regarding the ECQ. We have already informed our bus operators that our last trip will be on Sunday,” said Jumao-as in Cebuano.
As of Friday, March 27, there were some bus operators no longer operating at the terminal with only the Ceres Buses of Vallacar Transit Inc. deploying only 50 buses.
Jumao-as said they have fewer passengers, prompting him to send some of his personnel home.
He initially thought that only a few travelers would go to the terminal during the weekend after Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia announced on Wednesday that she had placed the entire Province under ECQ.
“After her (Garcia)’s announcement, I was surprised that a lot of people came to the terminal. I had to close off the terminal as crowds were already gathering outside. But eventually, we couldn’t prevent them from entering and decided to open our gates. All our passengers were eventually ferried off even though some of them stayed until the morning after just to get a bus home,” Jumao-as added.
Once the terminal closes, only security guards and maintenance personnel will remain there. / KFD