For years now, members of the public from Bato and San Andres who have been regularly traveling to the capital town have been taking tricycles and jeepneys for their daily commutes for work or family needs.
For the same number of years, decades even, the commuting public has endured occasional disagreements between the groups of tricycle drivers and operators on both sides of each route.
Along the Bato-Virac route along the national road, passengers, including the elderly and the infirm, were forced to walk at least 200 meters in the sun or in heavy rain from the Bato side to the Virac side or vice versa, just because the warring TODAs did not want the other to cross into their side of the boundary line.
In the San Andres-Virac route, ferry passengers unable to be accommodated by jeepneys are forced to pay up to P200 each for a tricycle ride to Virac.
The riding public has been helpless in expressing or even wanting authorities to act on their concerns, because the local government units saw no other alternative but to allow tricycles to ply the route.
Sure, there are some jeepneys and vans plying the two routes but these are few and leave their terminals only when they are full.
Then, the commuters could only hope that an investor or several investors would come in and plunk their money into public utility vehicles that would offer relatively cheaper, safer and more comfortable rides.
Last Oct. 27, 2023, a subsidiary of Bicol Isarog Transport Systems, Inc., Cat Island Express, began operating its initial eight (8) new Hino mini-buses along four main routes: Pandan to Bato, Pandan to San Andres, Gigmoto to San Andres, and Bato-Virac-San Andres.
Under the Naga City-based company’s policy, the buses are allowed to take in passengers in designated pick-up or loading points along each route.
The PUBs, which offer cushioned seats but no airconditioning, also offer cheaper fares starting at a minimum P25 for the shortest distance of 10 kilometers.
For example, the Bato-Virac route costs only P25 per rider (and P20 for the student/senior/PWD) while inter-town tricycles charge P40 each.
With increasing patronage by the riding public, the Cat Island Express operation naturally drew complaints from the TODAs affected which saw the newcomer as a threat to their livelihood.
But in its consultation meeting with the tricycle drivers and operators last week, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) highlighted several issues in its issuance of a provisional authority to the bus company.
It saw the need for an alternative, higher density public transport, due to the limited capacity offered by tricycles and jeepneys along the routes, as part of the agency’s mandate to ensure safe, comfortable and reliable public transportation.
Regional Director Joel Defeo underscored three basic truths that weaken the TODAs’ claim for the right to ply the intertown routes: tricycles are prohibited on national highways, their presence on said roads is a mere “tolerance” by authorities, and whatever arrangements by concerned local government units behind this “tolerance” is ultra-vires, illegal and cannot be enforced.
He likewise pointed out that by carrying passengers on the highways, such tricycles are exposing themselves and their clients to the possibility of being unable to claim insurance benefits as the three-wheeled vehicles are not allowed by their franchises to operate outside the municipality which issued the permit.
Indeed, change has come to the local transport industry and existing players – tricycles, vans, jeepneys and buses – have no choice but to live with it.
Now, commuters have the choice of selecting which land transportation service to use, depending on affordability, safety, convenience and comfort.
Their next wish? Another airline to service Virac and provide competition to Cebu Pacific and its expensive air fares.