Bus Lines in The Philippines

[sandrin]

Please let's forget about buses for a moment and think of ways to decongest the traffic. I'm so excited about the Pasig Ferry. I hope it will be up and running before the year ends. The cheapest and safest means of transportation is by ship. Aside from the fact the it's less polluting, it will also decongest highway traffic. The second most efficient is by train. We used to have the best UK-designed railways in SEA that connected Luzon all the way up to Baguio and the Eastern Bicol Region. Too bad the system deteriorated and was later on abandoned. I guess the officials learned their lessons and now see things clearly, like a splash of cold water.

Imagine.... taking a Ferry Ride by sun down to Laguna lake after a hard days work will definitely feel calming and relaxing especially when the summer breeze cools you down. Just be sure to stay inside during the rainy season.

[stephencua]

cant wait to see the ferries!!!

hope that the project succeeds!

[pau_p1]

wow revival of the Pasig River Ferries... now that's a good development and I hope this will be successful..... anyways.... this should have been made as a separate thread to the Buses...

[renell]

Indeed, time for a transportation thread, or if there is one bump it up.

But since sandrin has post it, I'd like to say that ferries, like double decker buses hits two birds with one stone. You give the tourists something to move around MM with (Rockwell to Intrams, etc. etc. ) and the Manilenos etc. can now go from one end of the Pasig to another without plying the roads.

[naughtyins0mniac]

buhbye heavy metro-traffic.. hello alternatives.

[bustero]

Hopefully the new ferries will survive unlike the last one which went bankrupt. Something about many people not wanting to pay enough for the service specially when they get seasick in the rain.

The CNG busses will be running to Calabar zone initially. I'm very sure there will be no EDSA or inner MetroManila buses using this until the pipeline is built from SPEX Batangas. While Nat. Gas is the prince of fossil fuels in terms of expense and cleanliness It'll take time to build the infrastructure to distribute Nat. Gas which is a not an easy fuel to transport. Most of the infrastructure in the states and Japan which uses a lot of this is through pipelines, the current pipe to pandacan accomodates liquid white products and not gases.

LPG is another matter if they legislate the utilities to use it as in Hong Kong.

[sandrin]

The new ferries will be air-conditioned complete with stations, restaurant, security scanner, a restaurant, tv, and bathroom.

[ThisFire]

The ferry will be groundbreaking. They should really make this happen and develop it into what we've been talking about like:

- a method of city transportation for citizens and tourists
- develop the ferry into something like what cities around the world have where there's ferry service that's also an attraction and the surroundings are developed and maintained to make all the places a big attraction site like the ferry/river routes in Mexico City, Baguio and San Antonio, Texas, USA.

but also for the ferry to be a way to reduce pollution by being a way of easing the traffic.

This is the "Buses for Metro Manila" thread so it's funny how this topic came up suddenly. And I mentioned earlier about Manila having a real bus line with first rate buses and fare and routes/stops, it really should happen just like how the major cities of the world (ie. London, Tokyo, etc) have their own line that's linked with the subway system.

ThisFire

[renell]

Doesn't the major stations in our mass rail system already have intermodal stops for jeepneys and buses? There are some benefits in having multiple bus operators, as opposed to one big one. I guess the price varies, and they cannot just raise their prices without fear of losing passengers to the competition. I reckon there should be some limit to how many buses an operator can use in a route, if that hasn't been regulated yet. Or a single type of buses, except with different operators (natural gas-powered ones for all, different liveries and colours)

Baguio had ferry river routes? I didn't see no large masses of water in Baguio, except for Burnham Park's man-made lake

[bagel]

Manila, pre-WWII had a pretty well-developed water transport system. Not only did boats ply the Pasig, but there was actually a network of canals, a la Venice, throughout the city. If you read old novels like Rizal's works, you get a sense that merchants plied the city's canals to sell their wares on floating markets.

[ryanr]

Please stay in-topic regarding the new buses. Renell made a thread on water transportation already.

So initially, the CNG buses will operate to Calabarzon...will they later introduce MM (especially EDSA) inner city routes to replace existing buses?

[olineil]

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.)

[jbkayaker12]

Atienza should start a tour bus of sorts plying the Roxas Blvd area and around the reclaimed lands of Manila bay. An open air double decker bus would do. By the way I like the extended golf carts that seat around 8 - 10 people plying the baywalk area. For 20 pesos you can have a ride up and down the boardwalk. I did this and took some movies to show to my sisters. Fun ride.

[normandb]

Originally Posted by jbkayaker12

Atienza should start a tour bus of sorts plying the Roxas Blvd area and around the reclaimed lands of Manila bay. An open air double decker bus would do. By the way I like the extended golf carts that seat around 8 - 10 people plying the baywalk area. For 20 pesos you can have a ride up and down the boardwalk. I did this and took some movies to show to my sisters. Fun ride.

it was the year 1987 when i first ride the double decker buses of Manila and it was in luneta, sana ibalik nila ulit yon, kaya lang sobra air pollution ngayon compare dati kaya open yong deck ng double decker buses noon.

[JudeD]

But the City of Manila itself doesn't have a lot of reclaimed land. Most of the reclaimed areas we're talking about are in Pasay and Paranaque where Atienza doesn't have any authority. So it ought to be an inter-city project.

[stephencua]

i heard over the radio that there will be like 200 new buses that run on the alternative fuel that will be deployed sometime in the last quarter of this year.. i hope that it pushes through..

and then at the same time, the older buses that run on diesel will finally be put to rest..

[thomasian]

You mean "Natural Gas" buses?

[stephencua]

yup i believe thats the one

[thomasian]

good, we have lots of Natural Gas reserves here, so we better make use of them now that imported oil prices are rising.

[jbkayaker12]

Originally Posted by thomasian

good, we have lots of Natural Gas reserves here, so we better make use of them now that imported oil prices are rising.

How much is a gallon of gas there na ba? Here I pay around $2.52/gallon for Chevron Plus. Ang taas lalo pang tataas siguro kasi summer time is coming up.

Ive heard the Philippines, China and Vietnam have plans of exploring natural gas and oil in the Spratly island chain.