IT will now be easier for workers to commute to their offices at the Cebu Business Park and the Cebu IT Park.
Vallacar Transit, which operates the Ceres buses, and the Cebu Holdings, Inc. agreed to deploy buses to the Cebu Business Park (CBP) and the Cebu IT Park (CITP) to cater mainly to workers of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
The buses ply the Cebu South Bus Terminal-CBP-CITP-CBP-Cebu North Bus Terminal route and vice versa.
Fare starts at P25 for the first five kilometers and additional P1.60 per succeeding kilometer.
Dale Mark Carangan, administrative manager of Vallacar Transit, said their fleet of buses with series number 888, 889 and 886 will transport passengers from the Cebu North Bus Terminal and the Cebu South Bus Terminal to CBP and CITP.
The buses will have a 15 to 30-minute interval.
Part of their long-term plan is to extend the route to Carcar City in the south and Danao City in the north.
“This is only an experiment. We only started last Dec. 26 with special permits issued by LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board),” Carangan said.
Carangan said that both the management of Ayala and Vallacar agreed on the deployment of Ceres buses upon the request of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to solve the public transport problem of the BPO workers, especially during peak hours.
LTFRB 7 Director Ahmed Cuizon confirmed that they issued special permits to buses that would service BPO workers up to Jan. 3, 2017.
“They were requested by the Cebu City Government and not by Ceres directly. If the City Government will negotiate with other bus companies and then request us to approve similar special permits for them, we will also consider it fair and square,” Cuizon said.
When asked to comment, Cebu bus owners yesterday said that the decision of LTFRB to allow Ceres buses to ply any route in Metro Cebu is unfair to existing and old-time bus operators.
Julito Flores, president of Cebu South Mini Bus Operators Association (CSMBOA), said that the LTFRB 7 should have conducted a consultative meeting with transport stakeholders before it rendered a decision in favor of Vallacar.
