Provincial bus passengers rise in number as New Year nears

The number of passengers at provincial bus terminals have further increased now that most employees are already on a work break for the holidays, an Unang Balita report on Friday said.

Citing bus terminal authorities, GMA News’ Jay Sabale said around 10,000 passengers have already boarded buses at a terminal along EDSA in Cubao since Thursday.

Most of the passengers who were still waiting for their buses early Friday morning have been there since 9 p.m. on Thursday, the report said.

To lessen their frustrations over the long waiting time, some families chose to stay outside the terminal while one from their group would fall in line for tickets.

Authorities said some of the buses coming from the provinces were stuck at the heavy traffic that has been going on at the Balintawak Toll Plaza since Thursday night.

This is the reason why passengers have to wait longer.

Araneta Center Bus Terminal

Meanwhile, at the Araneta Center Bus Terminal, the crowd of passengers was already thick as of 6 a.m. Friday.

WATCH: Sitwasyon sa Araneta Center Bus Terminal bago ang bisperas ng Bagong Taon, as of 6:00 am. | via @glenjuego pic.twitter.com/a6GtxtGYMS

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) December 29, 2016

Many Filipinos are going to spend the long New Year weekend in provinces, since Dec. 30, 2016 and Jan. 2, 2017 are also holidays aside from Dec. 31 (special non-working holiday) and Jan. 1 (New Year's Day). —Erwin Colcol/KG, GMA News