By Darwin G. Amojelar
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday said it gave the green light for the deployment of 42 “rescue” bus units that will run on “trial” basis over the coming week.
The trial of the “rescue” Omnibus Franchising Guidelines (OFG)-compliant bus units started on Monday (Jan. 10) and will end on Jan. 16, 2023.
The extra units, which come from bus companies that are not members of the two big consortiums that operate on the EDSA Busway Carousel, are meant to augment the existing number of buses plying said route.
In a resolution, the LFTRB said it has been consistently observed that the current deployment of bus units is below the requirement number of units, which is 80 percent of the authorized units, resulting in transportation shortage particularly during rush hours.
“The provision of these ‘rescue’ units have been discussed with the two bus consortiums already. Rescue buses were being utilized when there is an established increase in passenger demand and the number of deployed units is insufficient to render efficient service,” LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said.
He said developments related to these additional units or “rescue” buses would be monitored online by the LTFRB’s Franchise Planning and Monitoring Division (FPMD), assisted by safetravelph.
After seven days, the LTFRB will sit down with the two consortiums, together with the bus operators that will provide the 42 bus units, to discuss how to finalize, modify or even enhance this new scheme.
Under the guidelines set by the LTFRB, the “rescue” units will operate for 12 hours or from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. after the 20-hour run by the regular buses, which is from 4 a.m. to 12 midnight.
Operators of both regular and rescue units are directed to provide important data such as the number of units deployed and ridership for evaluation, and must comply with the fare matrix approved by the LTFRB to ensure uniform fare collection.