By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
(Note: For this issue, we lift the editorial of the January-March 2018 issue of the Tabuk Life, the official organ of the Tabuk City LGU.)
uring the meeting of the City Peace and Order Council (CPOC) on November 3, 2017, several issues relative to the current transport services situation in the city were raised. First is the refusal of buses to take advance reservation which, according to Radyong Bayan Station Manager Basilio Baluyan, forces people to go to the stations and queue for tickets even in the middle of the night. Second and related to the first, it was also observed that there was no response to a recent Sangguniang Panlungsod resolution requesting a couple of bus companies to include the city in their areas of operation. And lastly, the presence of colorum or illegal public conveyances in the city.
As recalled in the story “Tabuk public transport then and now” on pages 15-20 of this issue (We will shorten the story and publish it in Zigzag Weekly later.), there was a time in the province when obtaining a seat in a bus was a test of one’s physical agility and endurance as one had to make the reservation before the bus arrived at the station and at the very least, standing in line even in the middle of the night to get a ticket. That part of our history when we have to almost literally fight for a seat is long gone but some vestiges remain because of the practice of buses not to take advance reservation. This practice must also be stopped. If buses in other places take advance reservations for the convenience of the travelling public, there is no reason the same could not be done in this city.
Regarding the lack of interest of buses to operate in the city, if the reasons lie in us, it is high time for us to take action for the sake of better and more adequate transport facilities for the city and the province. Competition not only gives commuters choices but results to better service as the competitors scramble for a bigger piece of the market.
But while the city welcomes the entry of more transport outfits, that does not mean that the basic requirements for such services could be glossed over. It is high time that concerned authorities ensure that all public transport units serving the city are legal for the sake of passengers and the proper payment of obligations to the government. The cloud of doubt over some transport outfits created by persistent allegations that they do not possess the requisite documents should be cleared once and for all through the action of the appropriate government agencies.
Sometime early this year, the vans plying the Tabuk City-Tuguegarao City route under the banner of the Kalinga Transportation Development Cooperative (KALTRANSDECO) started offering airconditioned trips and at the same time removed the extensions of their seats thereby following the original seating capacity of their vehicles which is three seats to a row. This is a great relief to their passengers who for a decade have to endure being packed four to a row for the more than one hour trip which was also without the benefit of airconditioning. We are happy to note that finally, the long sought after improvements have been instituted by the KALTRANSDECO. Let us hope that the improvements are for keeps.
And let us hope that all the other remaining problems hounding our public transport services will be addressed until solved. We are now a city. Let our transport system be city-standard.
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