On the brink of ‘bankruptcy’: COVID-19 hurts public transport

CEBU, Philippines — After hotels and accommodation facilities in Cebu logged lousy occupancy rates, another sector of the local economy, the transport sector, has reported suffering the unwanted effects of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Local land transport industry players, including operators of taxis, buses, and jeepneys, said they are now on the verge of bankruptcy and crisis given the scanty to zero bookings since late February.

Benjamin Yu, general manager and president of Cebu Integrated Transport Service Cooperative (CITRASCO), said 30 tourist buses of Silverlines Inc. reported registering zero booking since last month.

The same situation is faced by some 120 other tourist buses operating in Cebu, he said.

“Very affected. Zero bookings now. Problema namo ang day to day nga pang-kaon sa mga drivers and family. Bayad sa amortization and all other fixed expenses. Mas daghan ma-bankrupt sa COVID kaysa mahawaan (Our problem is the daily provisions for the drivers and their families. Plus, there are the amortization and all other fixed expenses. More people will go bankrupt with COVID than those who will contract the disease),” said Yu.

Yu said the tourist buses’ main market are the foreign tourists, especially the Chinese, which account for about 90 percent of their clientele. The rest are local tourists.

“When the Chinese tourists were banned here in January, the bookings significantly declined. It was manageable then because there were still the Koreans, but when the Koreans were also banned, it worsened,” Yu said in Cebuano.

Because of the present situation, land transport operators are now relying on the small market of local tourists who have booked them for company outings/tours, school tours, pilgrimage, among others.

But another problem arose.

“There are no more classes so no more school tours. And the pilgrimage activities have been cancelled. There are no company tours as well. So tourist buses are now practically left with zero bookings,” said Yu.

As an interim solution, Yu said they are finding ways to employ their drivers as company or family drivers.

Buses affected

The pinch is not only felt by the tourist bus operators. Julieto Flores, spokesperson of Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association and president of Cebu South Mini-Bus Operators Association, said they, too, are affected even if their main market is the local tourists or passengers.

“Apektado gihapon mi og siguro mga 30 percent sa volume of passengers kay ang mga tawo hadlok na man mobiyahe tungod aning COVID-19 (We’re affected by, I think, as much as 30 percent since people nowadays are scared to travel),” said Flores, who is also the founding chairman of Cebu Provincial Operators Transport Cooperative.

“People are afraid of taking the bus, especially the airconditioned ones, because of the risk of contracting the virus,” he added.

But since there are still passengers who opt to go to their hometowns, especially on weekends, Flores said he already issued a memorandum to all members to provide alcohol for these passengers.

Flores said if the pandemic remains in the next few months, the volume of passengers will also continue to dwindle.

Taxis, too

Chiquito Obeso, vice president of Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association, said more and more taxi drivers no longer ply.

Out of the 6,200 taxi units in Cebu, Obeso estimates only around 3,000 units are operational.

But MCTOA president Richard Cabucos estimates that of those 3,000 taxi units, only around 1,000 are actually plying the streets. Cabucos owns 136 units of Richielda Taxi, of which only 46 units are actually operating.

Cabucos noted how the passengers have gone missing, especially in their usual places of convergence such as the malls.

Obeso, owner of Spider Taxi and general manager of Airland Taxi and Scorpion Taxi, said that he has 400 units in his fleet but the number of drivers is only at 180 currently. He expects this number to further go down next week, with no local tourists around.

Obeso, also the vice president of Cebu City Airport Taxi Operators Inc., which operates yellow taxis at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, said that his drivers have suffered from the lack of passengers.

Cabucos, president of CCATOI, said that he has 120 units of yellow taxi but only 40 are actually operating. Jeepneys, a basic mode of transportation among Cebuanos, are not also spared.

“Nianam na ka gamay ang pasahero sa jeep karon tungod sa issue sa COVID-19 kay nagkaanam ka gamay ang mga trabahante kay nagbawas man ang uban nga company,” said Greg Perez, president of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper Nationwide-Cebu.

Perez said that PISTON-Cebu has over 500 members-drivers and so far, none among his members have stopped driving despite the dwindling number of passengers.

No overcharging

As if to add salt to the injury, public utility vehicles are required to carry up to only half of their maximum capacity to implement a “one seat apart” scheme in efforts to help contain spread of the virus.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7 Director Eduardo Montealto said the regional agency will adopt the directive of the central office to reduce vehicle capacity by 50 percent but not double the amount of fare collected. Violators, he added, will be slapped with a P5,000 fine for overcharging.

Montealto said that a mini-bus with a capacity of 50 should now accommodate only 25 passengers. Same as jeepneys.

The LTFRB-7 director is calling for extra patience and understanding on the part of the riding public as the government strives to contain the virus. JMD (FREEMAN)