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Bus Lines in The Philippines

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#1 ·
Philtranco marks 90 years in travel, transport trade


By ARLENE DABU-FOZ


Top officials and executives from the country’s travel and transport industry will gather today at Philtranco’s main hub, the first bus company in the country, as it celebrates its 90th year today (July 6, 2004). It will be marked with simple rites at the newly renovated Philtranco Central Station along EDSA corner Pasay City.


Jose E. B. Antonio, Philtranco president and chief executive officer (CEO), will launch the program of the bus company’s Computerized Ticketing and Reservation System, Cargo Box, Green Cargo, Door-to-Door and On-board Philtranco.

The new products, officials said, will enhance Philtranco’s service to the traveling public, which also aims to promote domestic tourism nationwide.

The Bicol-based transport company, a globally competitive transportation provider, continues to innovate to help boost the local tourism with its most extensive area of coverage in the country via the "Ro-Ro" (roll-on, roll-off), its coverage of roads and ferry boats connecting Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

With the widest network set-up, Philtranco buses ply the routes from Manila to Quezon, Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Cebu all the way to Cagayan de Oro, Davao and other Eastern routes. Likewise from Manila to Caticlan, Iloilo and Estancia via Batangas and Mindoro on its latest routes along the Western seaboard using the Strong Republic Nautical Highway.

Philtranco takes pride in its 20 Gold Service (GS) buses, its extra wider and bigger land transports with service and amenities similar to that of an airplane. Staffed by pretty and competent stewardesses as well as skilled drivers, a Gold Service bus is designed to make long-haul travels very comfortable and hasslefree. Aside from more legroom and ergonomically-fitted seats, the GS bus offers on-board meals and snacks, blankets, on-board television, stereo and a toilet cubicle at the bus’ rear end.

Aside from the 20 GS coaches, Philtranco’s fleet of 370 buses include 200 air-conditioned and 150 non-air-conditioned buses. Moving over 2.7 million passengers a year, Philtranco logs an average of 200 Northbound and Southbound daily trips with an estimated terminal traffic of 19,000 daily passengers.

Founded by former Amercian serviceman Albert Louis Ammen and Max Blouse, Philtranco, previously known as A.L. Ammen Transportation Company (ALATCO), started in Bicol on July 1, 1914.

Philtranco has changed several hands since then and 40 years after its founding, ALATCO’s control shifted to the Tuason family who holds shares of the Eastern Tayabas Bus Company (ETB), a merging of three small bus companies working in Quezon’s Tayabas area.

Seventeen years later, the First Manila Management Corp. (FMMC), via its subsidiary Central Auto Bus Corp. (CABCO) now known as Philtranco South Express Inc. (PSEI), bought the ALATCO and ETB from the Tuasons.

Since 1984 to 1989, the bus company was known as PSEI. Between those years, PSEI’s senior executives negotiated for the transfer of ownership of the entire FMMC group to its managers, employees and pre-martial law owners. Thus, the group became the first Filipino corporation majority-owned, managed and operated by its own employees and managers.

But even beefed up transport biggies like PSEI traveled the long-haul routes to success via jagged economic highways. After some painful setbacks in the ’70s, the thriving bus company rebounded and charted a net worth of R34.9 million by the end of 1989.

Philtranco boosted domestic travel during the third quarter of 1986 when it launched its LuzViMinda run, a bus-cum-ferry operation linking Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in a nationwide route. This was followed by cargo truck and air-conditioned bus services.

Eight years later, Philtranco went thru changing of the guards again when the Mantrasco group bought its entirety. Mantrasco’s impressive lineup included juvenile and assertive entrepreneurs dominant in the transport trade like Johnny T. Hernandez of Victory Liner, Cesar T. Hernandez of Five Star Bus Company and Jaime E. Chua of JAC Liner, Inc.

Finally, the Jose Ch. Alvarez-led Penta Pacific Realty Corp. acquired Philtranco in 1999. As Tritran majority owner and operator, Alvarez consolidated the operations of Philtranco and Tritran and launched a top solo and dynamic intermodal transport company in the Southern Philippines via R250-million makeover and additional 80 brand new units.

Now, under the helm of Jose Pepito Ch. Alvarez as chairman of the board, and Jose E.B. Antonio as its president and chief executive officer (CEO), Philtranco is about to wrap-up its five-year, R4-billion expansion program that involved purchase of 200 German-made buses, 12 ferryboats, construction of super terminals and funding to improve passenger and cargo handling and delivery services.

In a span of five years, the new management registered prolific turnovers and drew successful flagship programs to make long-haul trips as convenient and hassle-free as possible. Last March, Philtranco bagged the Outstanding Service – Bus Line plum during the 19th National Consumers Excellence given by the Parangal ng Bayan Foundation. It’s in recognition of the firm’s excellence in providing top-notch goods and services to the public.

Three years ago, Philkargo took-off. The new concept makes for a speedy and secured vital luggage transporting cargo services. It has a capacity of two tons per bus, with a maximum transport of 352 tons daily.

Five years ago, Philtranco launched Biyaheng Pinoy to further drum up domestic travel. Last February 2003 they went on-line via Philtranco SMS (short messaging system) to update travelers of departure and arrival schedules.

In April 2003, Philtranco’s Central Station was spruced up with a passenger and baggage check-in system, a pre-departure area, fully air-conditioned waiting areas, food court, and very efficient 24-hour staff to assist passengers and maintain the safety and orderliness within the terminal.

Recently, Philtranco came up with Privilege Plus Card (PPC) program to provide discounts and special benefits to its cardholders. As its official publication, Philtranco released Onboard, the first-of-its-kind land transport industry journal.

Philtranco has the biggest and most comprehensive bus maintenance bases in the country. They can be found in Daet, Naga, Iriga, Tabaco, Legaspi, Sorsogon, Matnog, Bulan, Catbalogan, San Isidro, Allen, Goa, Tacloban, Liloan, Davao City and Cagayan de Oro.
 
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#127 ·
:eek: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!:rant::rant::rant: Jakarta currently has that system and i dont think it will work well in Metro Manila! A BRT will only close off one lane of traffic causing more traffic mayhem! I'm definitely opposed to this proposal. The construction of MRTs is MUCH MUCH MUCH better....they will really regret "saving" by opting to use a BRT over MRT.

What i would rather like to see is the change in the salaries of bus drivers. The reason why bus drivers stop in the middle of the road to get passengers is because their salaries is based on how many passengers they can get. This is their incentive from their operators. A better system would be a fixed monthly or weekly salary so that they (the bus drivers) do not need to compete to gather passengers in the middle of the road. They will be more diciplined and stay to the right of the yellow line and stop at designated bus stops.
 
#128 ·
GreyX said:
:eek: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!:rant::rant::rant: Jakarta currently has that system and i dont think it will work well in Metro Manila! A BRT will only close off one lane of traffic causing more traffic mayhem! I'm definitely opposed to this proposal. The construction of MRTs is MUCH MUCH MUCH better....they will really regret "saving" by opting to use a BRT over MRT.

What i would rather like to see is the change in the salaries of bus drivers. The reason why bus drivers stop in the middle of the road to get passengers is because their salaries is based on how many passengers they can get. This is their incentive from their operators. A better system would be a fixed monthly or weekly salary so that they (the bus drivers) do not need to compete to gather passengers in the middle of the road. They will be more diciplined and stay to the right of the yellow line and stop at designated bus stops.
Amen to that!!!! In that matter im reposting this....

Replacing our old buses is a very good news...
But we are missing the point, that our government doesnt enact a law to control the number of operators we are still gonna end-up congesting the place. Most operators right now in MM are I could say small time...I say this beacuse all of them just buys all those converted 2nd-Hand Buses from Japan and just barely having enough earnigs to properly maintain their buses. If the government controls the licensing of operators, each operator will have a sizable area to operate, enough for them to have proper income, then chances are they are gonna make their bus drivers salary based instead of Boundary based income. As a result the bus drivers wont be acting like maniacs on the streets coz they dont have to fight off competition on the streets just to eat for the day. (Singapore system is this way, thats why u will see bus drivers here are very much behaved. But dont get me wrong they do have a time limit to reach the Bus interchange point where they need to terminate and return to the original bus interchange where it came from, this way the drivers cannot abuse the system that they will just sit it out somewhere and have salary for the month.)
 
#130 ·
Exactly!!! :yes::yes::yes: @ olineil's post

I still believe EDSA and major roads have enough space for private cars and busses to operate without major traffic bottlenecks. It is really because of the buses that stop in the middle of EDSA that causes traffic congestion. The pink MMDA fences dont work, and many people who pass through EDSA can obviously see that they dont work! It is really how bus operators work that will change things.
And yes, the bus drivers should have a proper contract that motivates them to actually work and pick up passengers with a monthly salary. MMDA and the bus operators need to solve this problem by looking at the roots of the issue, not placing stupid physical barriers which bus drivers can still "cheat". Does MMDA really think bus drivers are stupid??

So with clean buring natural gas buses that stop and operate to the right side of the yellow line in a single file matter, traffic flow in EDSA would be sooo much smoother. It will also be a better sight because there is less pollution and the buses will be operating in an organised, single file matter. There will also be less accidents because the bus drivers dont need to drive insanely to get to the next crossing to drop and pick up passengers.
 
#133 ·
Lotilla hails NDC involvement in ethanol program
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 04/26/2005

Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla has lauded the 40 percent equity investment in the proposed fuel ethanol project in San Carlos, Negros Occidental by the state-owned National Development Co. (NDC), in joint venture with Bronzeoak Philippines.

The joint venture company, San Carlos Bio-Energy Inc. (SCBI), will develop and operate an integrated facility for ethanol production in San Carlos City in Negros. Bronzeoak will control the remaining 60 percent of the joint venture.

Lotilla said SCBI and the fuel ethanol project will support the government’s National Fuel Ethanol Program, which aims to develop and utilize bioethanol fuels.

"Promotion and widespread utilization of ethanol and other biofuels as alternative transport fuel would certainly help the transport sector mitigate the impact of rising oil prices," Lotilla said.

Aside from developing alternative fuels, the SCBI ethanol project will enhance the viability of the local sugar industry and help in alleviating the plight of the sugar farmers, Lotilla added.

"We are developing our indigenous energy resources, particularly renewables, and at the same time expanding the market for our sugar," Lotilla said.

The government’s ethanol program aims to intensify the use of biofuels in the transport sector by blending a minimum of five percent bioethanol fuel into all gasoline-fed motor vehicles and a minimum of one percent biodiesel into all diesel-fed motor vehicles.

Ethanol is an alternative energy resource produced from crops such as corn, grain sorghum, wheat, sugar and other agricultural feedstocks. It can be used as a transportation fuel in three ways – as a blend to gasoline, a component of reformulated gasoline, or a primary fuel with gasoline as blend.

The SCBI integrated facility will reportedly have a cane milling plant with a through-put capacity of 1,500 metric tons of cane daily and a co-generation power plant that will have a production of about nine megawatts. It has likewise a distillery plant which will also produce 100,000 liters of bio-ethanol a day.

The National Fuel Ethanol Program encourages private entities to invest in the production of biofuels and distribution of biofuel blends.

The government is aiming to enhance the country’s energy self-sufficiency level to 60 percent by 2010.

While the transport sector is still heavily dependent on imported oil, the country has steadily reduced its reliance on imported oil as energy source. Last year, the DOE spearheaded the introduction of coco methyl ester (CME) as an alternative transport fuel.

DOE is now preparing for the launch of the compressed natural gas (CNG) project as fuel for the initial 200 buses which will ply the Manila-Batangas route later this year.

Lotilla said the program will be expanded to 3,000 buses in the next 18 months.
 
#134 ·
Intermodal transport terminal to rise in QC

Posted 10:21pm (Mla time) May 27, 2005
By Tarra Quismundo
Inquirer News Service

BENT on showing it could work amid controversy, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday sealed a deal for a multi-million peso project that would create an organized transport terminal on Edsa.

The agency yesterday forged an agreement with private company New San Jose Builder's Inc. (NSJBI) to begin construction of the North Road Rail Station Phase 2, a project that would complete an intermodal transport facility for northern Metro Manila.

Through a Memorandum of Agreement the MMDA signed with NSJBI yesterday afternoon, the agency has been allowed to use a 7,100-sqm property leased to the firm for the construction of a sprawling transport terminal.

To settle any legal problem that may ensue, the MMDA said the project had been approved two years ago by the Metro Manila Council, the agency's policy-making body, through Resolution No. 03-07.

Working as a team

"I trust in living the concept of working as a team. My colleagues in the MMC will always see the MMDA as a partner in the search for the best formula to manage traffic in the metropolis," MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando said in a statement.

The project, which the agency estimated may cost at least P25 million, would begin in July. It is expected to be completed early next year.

The terminal would be built near the North Avenue Station of the Metro Rail Transit.
 
#139 ·
taken from inq7.net

Personalities endorse coco-biodiesel in TV commercial
Posted: 7:54 AM | Jun. 10, 2005

BAGUIO CITY -- Congressman and TV program host Juan Miguel Zubiri, actor Joel Torre and broadcaster Ernie Baron have given their services for free for a 30-second video to be shown on TV to promote alternative fuels.

A 10-minute educational video will also be viewed soon in the more than 200 buses that run on compressed natural gas.


Alternative or indigenous fuels include CNG, coco-biodiesel and ethanol fuel.

Zubiri said, "It's just that the idea [of using alternative fuels] is an advocacy of mine and I wouldn't mind selling the idea to the people."

In the video, the young congressman drives a CNG-powered bus and talks about the benefits of switching to alternative fuels.

"This is the wave of the future," he said. "Oil prices will soon be selling for $100 a barrel. We will surely run out of fossil fuels. We need to find alternative fuels now."

"As it turns out, our fuels will be planted in soil," Zubiri said, citing ethanol, which is produced from sugarcane and sorghum, and targeted for gasoline-powered engines, and coco-biodiesel.

Zubiri is the author of a bill in the House of Representatives that seeks to promote use of renewable energy.

He noted that his travel-oriented TV magazine show, "Team Explorer," ad also explored renewable energy. "I remember someone saying that anybody who invests in the future now will win," he said.

Divina Chingcuanco, country director of the sustainable energy development program, said: "We have many strong advocates in the entertainment industry. And we are aware of the strength of the entertainment industry in getting people interested in alternative fuels." With INQ7.net
 
#140 ·
Shell to open first CNG facility


Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is scheduled to open today the country’s first ever compressed natural gas (CNG) mother refuelling station in Tabangao, Batangas and its daughter station.


The facility is expected to benefit an initial fleet of 200 CNG-fed public utility buses.

The project is Shell’s response to clamor for cheaper alternative fuel which is also environment friendly. It means to supply public transport buses with natural gas produced by the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power project offshore under the government’s Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT).

The NGVPPT was launched by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in October 2001 to enhance energy supply security in the transport sector by using natural gas as alternative fuel.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (Pilipinas Shell) signed a supplement to the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Energy (DoE), which finally paved the way for the offering of CNG for public utility buses. The supplement indicated the final negotiated CNG price for the first 200 buses for a period of seven years.

CNG would be available at a fixed price of R14.52 per cubic meter for the next seven years in a bid to spur the use of the alternative fuel in the transport industry.

When the CNG stations start to operate, the Malampaya natural gas will be compressed into cylinders at the CNG mother station in Tabangao, Batangas. From there, the CNG will be transported by land to the daughter retail station in Biñan, Laguna located along the northbound lane of the South Luzon Expressway.

Some 70 gas powered provincial buses which are expected to ply the Batangas-Manila and Manila-Batangas routes shall be the initial fleet of buses to be served by the CNG stations. The CNG-powered buses mark the first non-power utilization of the Malampaya natural gas.

Source
 
#142 ·
taken from inq7.net..

Compressed Natural Gas-run buses launched

First posted 12:52pm (Mla time) July 01, 2005
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQ7.net



Get INQ7 breaking news on your Smart mobile phone in the Philippines. Send INQ7 BREAKING to 386.


PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched the first commercial bus using indigenous compressed natural gas (CNG) -- the government’s answer to the surging prices of oil.

The buses will be powered by CNG, which will be sold at 14.50 per liter for the next seven years, 50 percent lower than diesel, which is 29.50 per liter, according to Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.

The President, together with energy officials, members of the media; Canadian Ambassador Peter Sutherland; officials of Cummins Westport, the manufacturers of the CNG engines; and the Chinese delegation, Cummins' partners in manufacturing the CNG buses, took the inaugural ride to Luneta then back to Malacañang.

Lotilla said he expected the lower fuel cost to translate into lower bus fares. He added the use of this type of gas would also contribute to cleaner air.

“With the fuel cost much lower, relative to diesel, we expect they will be passing on the benefit to the passengers through lower fares,” he

said in a news briefing in Malacañang.

The gas will be available initially at the Shell station in Mamplasan, Biñan town, Laguna province.

At least 200 CNG buses will ply the Manila-Batangas route starting in August. In the coming days, CNG buses will also be seen in Metro Manila, Lotilla said.

Homer Mercado of HM Transport Inc., one of the six accredited importers and operators of CNG buses, said each bus costs about four million to six million pesos. He says he owns 80 CNG buses.
 
#144 ·
stephencua said:
At least 200 CNG buses will ply the Manila-Batangas route starting in August. In the coming days, CNG buses will also be seen in Metro Manila, Lotilla said.


I could hardly wait to see those new buses running! I am so excited.
 
#147 ·
MMDA readies new EDSA bus scheme
By Michael Punongbayan
The Philippine Star 07/26/2005

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is readying the full implementation of a modified Organized Bus Route (OBR) scheme along the entire 24-kilometer stretch of EDSA.

The system is expected to solve much of EDSA’s traffic problems since it will significantly lower the number of buses allowed to ply their routes.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said the OBR will also bring down pollution levels around the major thoroughfare.

He noted that there are just too many buses plying EDSA — some 3,000 units daily — even on holidays when there are not that many commuters.

The OBR, Fernando explained, will control and regulate the flow by allowing only a certain number of buses to use EDSA at specific days and times of the day.

Under the scheme, passenger buses, both airconditioned and non-airconditioned units, will be controlled and monitored on a terminal-to-terminal basis.

"The number of buses will depend on the volume of passengers in need of them. This will ensure that the buses on the road will not have empty seats," he said.

Fernando said he believes the OBR scheme will benefit everyone, including bus operators, since they stand to earn more at a faster pace.

Buses, he said, usually have to make three to four rounds in order to reach a targeted amount of earnings for a day.

With the OBR, a bus will be allowed to ply its EDSA route for the day once or twice, but with all of its seats occupied because of less competition.

"Mga one or two rounds, quota na," Fernando said.

Less buses on EDSA, the MMDA chief noted, will result in less pollution and less fuel consumption.

Fernando said EDSA’s buses spend some P266,000 on fuel for each unit yearly. This excludes maintenance costs and other expenditures.

The OBR scheme is the only MMDA project that has not been branded as illegal by a recent Makati City Regional Trial Court decision.

Fernando said the scheme will soon go into full swing following a dialogue with bus operators to inform them of the mechanics and finalize schedules.
 
#150 ·
if this works out even half as well as BF has planned, he will be worshipped as a minor god here in manila.. hahahahaha.. lets hope that all the bus drivers/operators would give this a chance and follow the rules to the hilt..

It's a go for new bus route plan on Edsa

First posted 09:27pm (Mla time) Aug 03, 2005
By Tarra Quismundo
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on Page A21 of the August 4, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE METROPOLITAN Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and transport groups finally found common ground yesterday on the controversial Organized Bus Route (OBR) scheme, paving the way for the implementation of the plan aimed at easing traffic on Edsa.

The MMDA said it would begin the full implementation of the OBR next week.

Willing to try
"I think the transport groups have realized how difficult it is to do business under the present setup, so they are now willing to give the scheme a try," said Angelito Vergel de Dios, MMDA Traffic Operations Center Executive Director.

The OBR, a first-on-first-off limited dispatch system at designated bus terminals along Edsa, was recently upheld as legal by a Makati court in a ruling on an injunction case filed by transport groups that branded the scheme a "restraint of trade." The MMDA said the system would maximize commuter loading of buses in one round-trip, boosting profits and saving on fuel expenses.

The agency has already readied five terminals to accommodate buses end to end. For southern commuters, terminals were set up at the Metropolis Mall, Alabang, Muntinlupa City; FTI in Bicutan, Taguig City; and Baclaran in Parañaque City. Terminals in northern Metro Manila include one in Navotas and another in Malanday, Valenzuela City. The MMDA also has a sprawling terminal complex in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Tamper-proof cards
Tamper-proof color-coded queue cards have also been readied for distribution to buses.

"The agreement was, if bus companies would earn more because of the scheme as we believe they would, we would continue implementing the scheme," said Vergel de Dios.

"If after months of observation we see that it's not working, then we would fix the loopholes or, if the failure persists, we would abort the scheme," he continued.

Issues reconciled
Issues on the OBR were reconciled Tuesday in a meeting between MMDA officials and some 20 representatives from bus companies, including owners and officers of Jell Transport, Gasat Express, Pascual Liner, Cign Transport, Saint Rose Transit, Original Transport, Filipinas Trailways and Everlasting Transport. Of the Metro Manila-based bus operators' organizations, only the Intercity Bus Operators Association (Interboa) sent a representative to the meeting.

Despite the absence of representatives from other transport groups, the MMDA said it would pursue the implementation of the scheme. The OBR was first implemented on an experimental basis in December 2003.
 
#151 ·
I have been waiting for so long for this! its a win-win-win situation on the part of the commuters, bus operators, and environment.

With this OBR, passengers can still get on and off to anypoint in EDSA? or only allowed at the designated terminals? And would buses have fixed schedule of transit? Or maybe the alis-puno (Load and go?) system?
 
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