LTFRB mulls expanding P2P bus in nearby provinces

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) mulled on Thursday the expansion of the premium point-to-point (P2P) buses to provinces near Metro Manila for more efficiency and save travel time for commuters.

"It must be expanded from the east coming from Antipolo or municipalities of Rizal and from the north coming from Bulacan and from the west. This will promote efficiency time and energy saving," LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez said in a television interview.

The P2P buses are run by private bus companies and currently has a fleet of 50 bus units with roundtrip routes from Quezon City to Makati, Ortigas to Makati, and Alabang to Makati.

Ginez agreed railway systems are the ways to the future but would take at least two to three years to fully operate.

Hence, Ginez said Metro Manila should implement a proper dispatching system especially during peak hours when most commuters ply the streets.

"The [railways] are still for the future and they are doing it right now, dadagdagan pa ito but it take 2-3 years before it will be operational. Still we still need high efficiency public buses," he said.

"What we would like to see and recommend is proper dispatching of these buses. During peak hour, napakaraming nag-aabang sa kalsada, all we need to do is a rational way of dispatching these buses," Ginez added.

PHL first to regulate service provider

In the same interview, Ginez said he and outgoing Transportation Sec. Jun Abaya are proud to call the Philippines as the first country to regulate service providers nationwide.

The DOTC created a new classification of public utility vehicles in 2015 allowing Transporation Network Vehicle Services such as Uber and Grab to operate in the country as long as they apply for a franchise.

"We are really proud, Sec. Abaya and I are proud because the Philippines is the first country to regulate in a nationwide or country wide scale service provider. What we did is we classified these vehicles as application transportation provider. We just classified them as provider and we accredited them," Ginez said.

Uberpool means fewer cars

Meanwhile, Ginez welcomed Uber's new carpooling service Uberpool allowing at least three passengers who share the same destination to "share a ride and fare."

"This carpooling, [the] Philippines is happy because more people in fewer cars... Here in the Philippines, [the] maximum of 3 passengers [are] in the car, the system will not allow beyond that number sa Uber. And then all the passengers must first be registered in Uber community. When you click the Uber carpool, you are agreeing that the driver can pick up other passengers with the same route you have," Ginez said.

Ginez noted drivers must first secure NBI and police clearances and undergo seminars or training aside from their driver's license before they are accredited as Uber drivers. — Joseph Tristan Roxas/RSJ, GMA News