March 28, 2024

Eleven local government units plus LGUs in the National Capital Region, and the management of Clark City have agreed to open their borders for public utility buses and vans from Baguio City.

Engr. Januario Borillo, chief of the Traffic and Transportation Management Division of the City Engineering Office, said the LGUs  of Fernando City and Mabalacat City in Pampanga; Mariveles, Bataan; San Carlos, Villasis, and Lingayen in Pangasinan; Olongapo City, Zambales; Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija; Bontoc, Mountain Province have informed the city government that they are ready to accept travelers from Baguio.

Under the initially agreed guidelines governing the operation of inter-regional routes, buses from the NCR, Bataan, Zambales, Pampanga, and Tarlac will pass through expressways while the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board, in coordination with the concerned local governments allowing the travel to and from the city, should identify common pickup and drop-off points in their jurisdiction.

The common pickup and drop-off points will provide isolation rooms with the presence of qualified medical staff members in coordination with the concerned LGUs.

He said that the pickup or drop-off points will be in the terminals of the buses and vans. The terminals will also designate a triage area equipped with a handwashing facility or hand sanitizing station near a rest room and provide chairs, face masks, and face shields for the passengers.

Stopovers will not be allowed.

Stopovers shall only be allowed during medical emergencies and as an administrative control, driver or conductor substitution shall not be allowed and pickup of passengers along the route will not be allowed.

Borillo said a list of commuter and provincial bus routes will be issued by the LTFRB upon approval of the concerned LGUs in coordination with the inter-agency task force pursuant to the gradual and calibrated opening of public land transportation.

He added authorized units issued QR codes will be subject to local government and task force guidelines.

The city shall limit the number of passengers allowed to travel to and from their jurisdiction daily and the corresponding number of bus units to be deployed will be based on the number of passengers.

Initially, the number of buses allowed in the city is eight buses per day only and that entry of buses in the central triage will have an interval of at least one hour. – PIO release