Long queues torment Cavite commuters amid DOTr reforms

It’s almost 11 p.m. and Jerrimae Genuino’s feet are killing her.

She’s been on her feet almost all day as a hotel worker in Pasay.

Now, she’s been standing for half an hour in Baclaran with a hundred other passengers, hoping to get a ride to Cavite, where she lives.

An empty bus arrives and Jerrimae joins the throng of commuters in running after the bus only to find out that it won’t take passengers.

“Agawan po talaga sa pagsakay kasi po ang hirap. Bihira po yung Cavitex. Kaya ayun, wala pong masakyan,” Genuino said.

She once tried her luck at the new and modern Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange or PITX.

“Wala rin. Kung andoon kami, one hour din bago makasakay. Swertihan din kung may bus,” she said.

As much as she wants to get a ride home from the PITX, Genuino says there are no jeeps at the terminal anyway.

Bus driver Peter Serdan is already feeling the impact of the PITX on provincial buses in Cavite and Batangas.

Based on the LTFRB Memorandum Circular 2018-22, all provincial buses must drop and pick-up passengers at the PITX.

They can no longer enter Metro Manila.

“Mula po sa higit isang libo, maswerte po kung kalahati pa ang maiuuwi namin. Syempre, mas gusto ng pasahero sumakay na diretso na at hindi na magdadalawang sakay at doble ng bayad,” Serdan said.

But to accommodate passengers in the Greater Manila Area of Cavite, Bulacan and Laguna, the Department of Transportation converted several routes of provincial buses into city buses to be able to ply Metro Manila through Department Order 2018-25.

DOTr said it converted franchises of 159 provincial buses into city buses.

High-tech, comfortable and safe

A one-stop integrated transportation hub for all transportation needs in and out of the south of Metro Manila.

This is how the DOTr and MWM Terminals touts the PITX.

MWM Terminals spent more than P3 billion in constructing the first ever landport in the country.

PITX General Manager Mariano Antonio Arroyo Jr. says world-class convenience is the goal of the PITX with its high-tech system.

Arroyo says they’re doing the best they can with the mounting complaints. With each day as a learning experience.

Transportation Undersecretary for Road Transport Mark de Leon believes a shift in commuters’ attitudes is needed for the PITX to work.

“Kailangan mabago yung behavior para gamitin ang PITX at ma-achieve yung goal natin to decongest Metro Manila.”

Do we only need a shift in commuters’ attitudes for the PITX to work and serve its purpose? Or do we need to do more? Catch the report on Brigada at 8 p.m. on GMA News TV. —NB, GMA News