CEBUANOS embraced the comfort and speed of travel that Topline Seabus began offering on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, as it made its maiden voyage on the Liloan-Lapu-Lapu City route.
Traveling from Pier 88 in Liloan town in mainland Cebu to Mactan Wharf in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island, the 150-seater vessel had its soft launching on Tuesday, cutting the travel time to only 45 minutes of sea trip from the usual two hours of land trip.
Tita Ponce, 62, a resident of Barangay Tayud, Liloan, told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday that the maiden voyage of Topline Seabus will revolutionize commuting by those working in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) who are residents of Liloan and other towns and cities in northern Cebu.
Out of curiosity, she rode the Seabus to observe the alternative mode of transportation from Mactan Island to Liloan.
Ponce worked for 35 years in a wristwatch factory in the MEZ before she retired in 2019.
She said commuting going home was always her and her fellow workers’ dilemma, particularly during the rush hour after work usually in the evening when motor vehicles jammed the roads going to their homes.
“Grabe ang suffer sa traffic sa pag-commute gyud, labi na sa una kay nihit ang mga sakyanan. Unya sa kadaghan sa empleyado sa Mepz (now MEZ), dili gyud maka-igo sa amoa. Unya samutan pa sa uwan-uwan og traffic,” Ponce said.
(We really suffered the traffic when commuting before, especially when there were few public utility vehicles and these were not enough to accommodate all the Mepz employees. And this situation was made worse with the rains and heavy traffic.)
Ponce had to wake up at around 4 a.m. to be able to get to work in time for her 6 a.m. clock-in, which most times was not a problem since the volume of vehicles was not heavy early in the morning despite the distance.
The challenge at that time, Ponce said, was having to ride multiple jeepneys with two or more different routes since there was no direct route from her home in Liloan to Mactan Island.
The situation is different today, when there are now modern jeepneys that have a direct route from Liloan to Mactan and vice versa, she said.
Competitive price
Carmelita Balverde, 60, of Barangay Poblacion, Liloan told SunStar Cebu that with the promo fare of P35, commuting via Seabus would enable MEZ workers who live in Liloan and northern Cebu to save money.
The price of the Seabus ticket would still be competitive with that of riding traditional or modern jeepneys, even when the Seabus ticket price would increase to its regular fare of P50, Balverde said.
She said riding the Seabus was more convenient and comfortable as the interior of the vessel was huge and there was air-conditioning.
Balvarde said she has relatives currently working in MEZ who commute via motorcycle, so the Seabus would provide them with another option to get to work.
Topline Seabus targets to serve around 10,000 to 15,000 workers mostly located in MEZ who are residents of the town of Liloan, and the adjacent towns and cities in northern Cebu.
Smart ticketing
In an earlier interview, Brigette Lim, vice president for operations of Topline, said Seabus offers a modern ticketing system using the QR code such as that used in the Cebu South Bus Terminal.
Passengers can buy tickets at the ticketing booth, where they are given tickets with a QR code, giving them access from the ticketing booth to the waiting area, before entering the vessel.
Topline will also launch by yearend a mobile application through which passengers can book their trips, Lim said.
Topline targets the grand launching of Seabus anywhere from the last week of September to the first week of October. By 2024, it hopes to add the Liloan-Cebu City route.
Currently, it has two Seabuses plying the Liloan-Mactan route. However, Topline will launch a fleet of eight to 10 vessels in the coming years. (EHP)