LTFRB suspends company in EDSA carousel bus collision

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday issued a preventive suspension against a bus company after one of its units figured in a collision along the EDSA busway.

According to the statement issued by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the LTFRB also issued a show cause order against Earthstar Express Inc. and ordered the company to explain why its franchise should not be revoked.

On Monday evening, one of the buses of Earthstar Express Inc. collided with the bus of Admiral Transport Inc. that was in line to load passengers at the EDSA carousel Guadalupe Station.

The mishap caused 23 passengers of Earthstar Express Inc. to be injured and another eight passengers wounded from the Admiral Transport Inc. bus.

Meanwhile, the LTFRB requested the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency (PAMI), the firm that provides passenger personal accident insurance for public utility vehicles, to pay the wounded passengers’ hospitalization fees.

For its part, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) directed the drivers of the bus companies involved in the mishap to appear before its Intelligence and Investigation Division (IID) on Thursday and explain why they should not be charged for reckless driving and have their license revoked.

“Both drivers' licenses were also preventively suspended for 90 days, DOTr said.

“The two bus firms were also ordered to appear before the LTO-IID to explain why their firms should not be administratively charged for employing a reckless driver,” it added.

GMA News Online is seeking comments from the two bus companies. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BAP, GMA Integrated News