Terminals gear up for thousands heading home

CEBU, Philippines - Bus terminals are gearing up for the start of the return of passengers today, the end of the long holiday.

Carmen Quijano, manager of the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT), said that they are now preparing for the return to the city of people who went home to their provinces for the All Saints’ and All Souls’ days. 

Quijano said, though, that the return of the passengers from their respective provinces is a much more orderly scene compared to when they were rushing to catch a bus trip in time for the All Saints’ and All Souls’ days.

 She explained that the scene last October 31 and November 1 was quite unexpected due to the great influx of passengers in the CSBT. “In my ten years here in CSBT, last October 31 and November 1 was probably the worst in terms of volume of people.”

She clarified that generally, the said dates were peaceful but due to the larger number of people, the terminal was totally packed.

On October 31, Quijano said that they estimated the crowd at around 30,000 while by midnight of November 1 until late morning, another 15,000 passengers waited to board on buses.

Quijano said that it was the most crowded scene in the bus terminal so far, where people could not move around due to the congestion. The terminal for passengers occupies one hectare of the whole CSBT property.

She said that some lines reached as far as a nearby mall while other lines reached the nearby Cebu City Hospital. CSBT accommodates 400 buses daily.

Quijano said, though, that they are still thankful that everything was still peaceful and people cooperated with their instructions, especially in respecting the women and children who were pressed in the middle of the huge crowd.

But Quijano said she hopes parents would consider the experience and decide not to bring their little children to trips, especially babies. “There were those who brought with them newborn babies and children as young as one year old. I felt sorry for the children who could not endure the heat, hunger and thirst and the intense overcrowding.”

Further, Quijano said that some passengers have started arriving from their provinces yesterday but they expect the influx to increase by today, especially tonight. 

CSBT will have all their 20 permanent tactical guards plus the additional 20 they requested from the governor’s office in place, as well as special reaction unit, the civil security unit and the teams from the Philippine National Police.

Quijano said that all they ask from passengers is to be vigilant on their part to prevent any mishaps.

She said aside from one passenger who reportedly lost her wallet but was not sure if it happened inside the terminal vicinity, they are thankful that there were no other misfortunes.

Quijano also added that since Christmas is coming to a near and people are also expected to head home to their provinces for the holidays, they will also be preparing although they expect that it would not be as jam packed as October 31 and November 1. Usually, people start to flock to the terminal by December 24 or earlier, she said.

Meanwhile in Mandaue City, Jun Jumao-as, North Bus Terminal manager, said that their crowd this year was more orderly compared to the previous years.

“Daghang nagpasalamat nga taga-Norte nga arang-arang na karun ang set-up sa atong pagpalinya sa mga pasahero according to their destination by giving priority numbers. Though dili perfect, but at least mas hapsay gyud karon,” said Jumao-as. (A lot of people were thankful for the new system we have. It’s not perfect but it’s a lot better now.)

Jumao-as clarified that there was no “stampeding, kicking and elbowing” that happened among the passengers because they imposed a queue for each destination.

“Dili man na mawala ang inilogay but wala gyuy tinukmuroy nga nahitabo ug stampede. Mas hapsay pa man gani mi sa south bus terminal,” Juamao-as said.

He said if only there was more personnel for crowd control from the Philippine National Police, they would have helped a lot in controlling the crowd. There were SWAT members at the North Bus terminal but they stayed only an hour.

Jumao-as also revealed that more passengers were recorded this year, at 30,440 compared to the 20,000 passengers last year during October 31. For November 1 to 2 this year, they had 17, 000 passengers. — with Marigold P. Lebumfacil/JPM (FREEMAN)