Terminal case: As fuel cost soars, car owners taking bus instead
There has been an increase in passenger numbers during the Holy Week holidays amid the apparent trend of motorists choosing to travel by bus instead, according to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
Fare discounts and other incentives to travelers have also been introduced by various stakeholders in the transportation sector, as fuel costs continue to rise following the Iran war now past its first month.
“We think that the increase in the price of fuel drives up our passenger numbers,” said lawyer Jason Salvador, spokesperson of the transport hub run by Megawide subsidiary MWM Terminals.
“We are seeing that those who used to drive their private vehicles to their destinations are now commuting instead,” he told reporters.
Transiting passengers
According to the latest PITX data, the terminal had a total of 369,743 transiting passengers on Palm Sunday (178,305) and the following day, March 30 (191,438).
These figures were a slight increase compared with the 340,219 passengers passing through PITX last year on Palm Sunday, April 13 (165,292) and Monday, April 14 (174,927).
The terminal recorded more than 70,000 arriving passengers on Tuesday—“not as heavy as yesterday,” Salvador said.
He said peak passenger arrival is on Wednesday, the last working day of the Holy Week when millions of Filipinos make it a tradition to visit their home provinces.
Bus fare discount
Meanwhile, one of the country’s largest bus operators is offering a 10-percent fare discount on Good Friday to Easter Sunday.
“This fare discount is one way of supporting our government and President Marcos’ program of ensuring that our countrymen spend a meaningful Holy Week with their loved ones,” said Leo Rey Yanson, president of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies.
The company said the discount is expected to benefit more than 850,000 passengers daily and will be applied across its operations in southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
The discount, however, does not apply to senior citizens, persons with disabilities and students, all of whom are already entitled by law to a 20-percent discount.
The Yanson Group operates the following bus lines: Ceres Transport, Ceres Liner Travel and Tour, Goldstar Bus Transit, Bachelor Express, Mindanao Star Bus Transport, Southern Star Bus Transit and Rural Transit, among others.
Toll-free highway segment
Also on Tuesday, President Marcos led the opening of a new extension of the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) in Nueva Ecija province, as he announced this section will be toll-free to all motorists until December.
The road segment, CLLEX Phase 1 Contract Package 4, links the expressway’s San Juan Interchange in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, to the provincial capital of Cabanatuan. It is expected to benefit about 11,500 motorists daily and cut travel time from 1.5 hours to just 20 minutes.
The new extension completes the first phase of CCLEX which was provided P11.8 billion in official development assistance by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
“Trips are free for now. That’s why different trucks can pass through so we can help ease traffic along MacArthur Highway,” Mr. Marcos told reporters.
“As long as travel speeds increase, consumption of fuel costs goes down, and prices of products carried by these trucks through this expressway will not rise. That’s the major impact of this project,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, Mr. Marcos led the opening of C-5 Link Segment 3B of the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex). That new extension is expected to cut travel time, particularly from the southern metro cities of Parañaque to Taguig, from 1.5 hours to just 15 minutes.
The President had also ordered Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon and Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez to open as many new roads as possible by Holy Week. —WITH REPORTS FROM DEXTER CABALZA AND LOGAN KAL-EL M. ZAPANTA
