For passengers familiar with the ubiquitous sign GT Express, it means from garage to terminal. However, this kind of public transport is limited only to passengers taking the vans-for-hire. Parked in designated parking areas including the Integrated Bus Terminal, passengers of the new player in the transport business, the Southern Star, a sister firm of the giant Ceres Liner, are clamoring that one day they will be able to take their favorite buses at the IBP. Trouble is, the new entrant in the bus business is prohibited from picking up passengers at the IBP pending submission of several requirements demanded from City Administrator Walter Toston. This leaves Southern Star passengers no choice but to wait for the buses of their choice at the company’s garage along San Jose St., this city. For northbound passengers, they can patiently wait to take their rides home at the intersection in Manga district when the buses pass through this highway junction. It used to be that the now familiar yellow buses were allowed to park at the IBP until city hall issued an order prohibiting their use of the public parking bay.

The bus company’s fleet is now temporarily parked at the old St. Jude garage located at San Jose Street, at the back of the Plaza Marcela. Management advised the riding public to just wait for the buses to pass by regular city routes where they can be picked up for convenience. A check with city hall revealed that Toston had written a letter dated January 2, 2013 to the bus management, with the information that the bus company had failed to notify the terminal management when they started operations. The letter ordered the bus management to submit required documents for issuance of permit to use the bus terminal. Unless this is complied, Southern Star busses cannot use the city bus terminal, the Toston letter said. The SS bus management however is at loss on how to comply the order as the Toston letter did not specify what documents are required to be submitted. The letter from the city administrator came a day after a heated altercation was reported at the bus terminal involving a Southern Star conductor and a driver of a competing bus. It could not be verified if the “no entry” order from city hall has something to do with the incident.

COMPETITION?

The bus company who had just entered the Bohol franchise route using the St. Jude and Super 5 franchises had been the object of complaints from small bus companies and transport players, noting less passengers resulting from the new competition. This latest problem of Southern Star, this time pitted with city hall, could not be ascertained if competitors are behind all these. The bus company fielded an initial 36 units Mazda buses with wider bodies and cushioned seats offering comfort to passengers. It makes about 100 trips daily covering almost all points of destination of the province. The absence of the yellow SS buses at the city bus terminal would mean revenue losses to the city as each bus pays a P50 terminal fee each trip which when computed would amount to P150,000 a month income for the terminal from this one bus company alone.

Southern Star Bus (SSB), as a sister company of Ceres Liner is operated by Vallacar Transit and has its main headquarters in Bacolod City. The Ceres buses are fielded all over the country with a heavy concentration of routes in Mindanao. Last January 17, a fragmentation grenade was found under a parked bus in Clarin town. Police investigators pointed to business-competition and not extortion try from underground groups. The same bus company had units torched in Negros island, incidents suspected as handiworks of rebels revolutionary tax imposition. In Anda, police reported an incident involving the Southern Star and a bus crew of another company Clynn Bus Lines resulting to physical confrontations. The local transport woes had reached the office of Gov. Edgar Chatto who vowed to mediate so that transport companies under Bohol Operators Land Transportation Association (BOLTA) and Southern Star can co-exist as transport providers for this tourism-island province. (30)