Delays, fully booked trips, long lines at terminals, ports amid Christmas exodus

Passengers at some terminals and ports faced delayed trips due to lack of available buses and ships compounded by road repairs, according to reports on GMA Integrated News’ Unang Balita.

Some passengers at a bus terminal in Cubao, Quezon City had to stay overnight after their trips to the Bicol Region were delayed due to the traffic caused by the repair of Andaya Highway in Camarines Sur, James Agustin reported.

From 12 hours, the trips from Cubao to Bicol took around 20 hours.

The trips of air conditioned buses to Camarines Norte have been fully booked until December 31. Also, the trips of air conditioned buses to Camarines Norte and Legazpi City in Albay have been fully booked until December 29.

Chance passengers can still book trips of ordinary buses on a first come first serve basis.

According to the management of the Cubao terminal, the influx of passengers is expected until Tuesday, Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), some trips to Lipa City in Batangas, Lucena City in Quezon Province, and Olongapo City in Zambales were delayed. Affected passengers have to wait for the new schedule of trips, according to a report of EJ Gomez.

The long lines of travelers were observed at the entrance and exit of the terminal.

Heavy traffic was also reported around the terminal where public utility buses and private vehicles were picking up and dropping off passengers.

At Batangas Port, most of the fully booked trips are long trips like those heading to Romblon and Caticlan, Philippine Ports Authority Port Management Office (PPA PMO) Batangas port manager Joselito Sinocruz said.

“Fully booked po sila. Ang mga biyahe po niyan, malalaki po ang barko pero isang beses lang po sa isang araw. So kapag maiwan ka ngayong araw na ito, bukas na ulit yung pagkakataon mong makabiyahe,” he said.

(They are fully booked. Those trips have big ships but only once a day. So if you did not make it today, tomorrow is your next chance for a trip.)

Over the weekend, Sinocruz said the lines of travelers at the port became disorderly as some of them left.

“Kumalas po sila sa pila kaya medyo po gumulo para tuloy kailangan ng crowd control, parang may nagra-rally pero noong bandang alas tres ng hapon naibalik po natin yun,” he said.

(They left the line, so it was a bit of a mess and crowd control was needed, it looked like there was a rally, but around three in the afternoon, we were able to bring it back.)

On Sunday, around 26,000 travelers were recorded at Batangas Port. The management expects around 20,000 passengers on Monday. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA Integrated News