Pangasinan SolidNorth Transit Inc., launches the first Premium Point-to-Point from Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) to Baguio City. Like other Premium Point-to-Point buses, they offer Free Wi-Fi on Board and buses are equipped with Restroom, Reclining seats, and USB Charging Ports. Unfortunately, they don't have buspads inside, but considering they utilize their new Yutong ZK6122HD buses, this might be considerable as a great option to visit the City of Pines. Fare starts at PhP 900.00. They also offer discounts for Students, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and Senior Citizens.
They also offer online booking for this trip via biyaheroes.com, with payment options via Credit and Debit Cards or Over the Counter thru 7Eleven, Bayad Center, Cebuana Lhuiller, and SM and Robinson's Business Centers. Their entry makes Pangasinan SolidNorth Transit Inc. the fourth bus company since 2010 to offer direct trip from Metro Manila to Baguio. Pangasinan SolidNorth Transit Inc. is an affiliate of JAC Liner. Source: Pangasinan SolidNorth Transit FB
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There is this one local song in Zamboanga City that guides the tourists, that whenever you step into Zamboanga, you would feel that you're in Mexico. That is because of the local language, Chavacano. But seeing a rickshaw as a mode of transport in Zamboanga might let you feel that you're in India or Thailand. Yes, those rickshaws (or Tuk-Tuk as what Thai calls it) is now in Zamboanga City, and it is being used now as a mode of local transport in the city. In a city where tricycles were dominating the local transportation, rickshaws are showing up this week. This is happening, thanks to our national government's push to modernize our transportation. Since 2017, the government is pushing the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). The aim to modernize the country's transportation by replacing our transport vehicles with newer ones that are powered with Euro-4 engines, or from a renewable energy source. Despite that, the existence of these rickshaws would not mean a replacement to the city's tricycles. In an interview with Vice Mayor Rommel Agan at Dateline Teleradyo last May 28, he clarifies that there shall be no tricycle phase-out and that today's city tricycles would continue as the city's local transport in years to come. "It does not necessarily that the current De Leon patent tricycles will be replaced entirely. Operators may only replace the motorcycle that is powered by an Euro-4 engine." Agan said. However, Euro-4 engine motorcycles aren't yet for sale in Zamboanga City. But accordingly, it would be available at local motorcycle dealers in the near future.
Otherwise, tricycle operators may have an option to replace the entire tricycle with a rickshaw that is now out in the market. "The modernization program did not specify any specific model that tricycle operators may use. As long as the tricycle will meet the requirement that it should be running with a Euro-4 engine." Agan added. Tricycle drivers are given 5 years to modernize their tricycle units. Additional info: Dateline Teleradyo - GBPI TV11 News, DoTR Members of Pinoy Bus Fanatic gets an opportunity to have a tour Fröhlich Tours' garage and to see their buses inside. What sees them is Fröhlich Tours' buses, repainted in a whole new look. From its former yellow with gray and white decals, these buses were refreshed and repainted in white, red and blue colors. Matching the company's logo and colors, it seems like Fröhlich Tours upgrades their fleet anew. Fröhlich Tours seems that they had gone with a more nationalistic approach. It shows a mix of white, blue and red colors, with a detail of our flag's three stars and a sun. It may not be as vibrant as how it was with their yellow colors, but unlike the old livery, you can see the company's logo and branding at its sides. Fröhlich Tours can show to everyone with pride, that these buses are theirs and these buses are like no other. Pinoy Bus Fanatic members were lucky to see these buses, up close and personal. They were facilitated with Fröhlich Tours' owner, Mr. Chris Bauer and gave them a ride with their double-decker bus. As of today, Fröhlich Tours is the largest tourist bus company in the country. It has 148 Tourist Charter Buses, 48 Premium Point-to-Point Buses, a fleet of double-decker buses with Skyliner and Skyliner VIP, and 250 certified drivers of which were accredited by the Department of Tourism.
Additional info: Fröelich Tours Zamboanga City's lone taxi company, Asia's Latin City Transport Service Cooperative (ALTSCOOP) gets an additional 50 taxi units, making them 100 in total.
The taxi cooperative which has been operating for a year now sees a demand to add more units in the city. Units being added were to include a handful of Toyota Avanza, 2019 Kia Rio, and 2019 Toyota Vios. To recall, Zamboanga City had taxis back since the 1960s. Unfortunately, with the fierce competition between the taxis and tricycles in the 80s, taxi companies in the city had started to close their operations, until 2003 when Holiday Taxi exits their Zamboanga operations. Last year, ALTSCOOP suddenly brought back taxis in the city, with an initial 14 units. In just a few months, their taxi units grew to 50 and now had reached 100. Their comeback may bring back their competition with the existing tricycles in the city, but it also brought opportunities to modernize the city's transportation. Today, we see a lot of buses that adds new features to entice more passengers to hop on and ride on their buses. These buses were equipped with Free Wi-Fi on-board, a Restroom, a leg rest for your foot, buspads, and they even add more TVs inside. And with today's smartphones that can be charged up through a USB Charging Port, newer buses add these in giving in more comfort to the passengers. But is it necessary for buses to have these USB Charging Ports on board? Let's look out the factors to see if it's really necessary, or not. If you got a powerbank, you won't need it. Nowadays, powerbanks are becoming more affordable. So affordable, that it seems everyone who has a smartphone might have one. See, it's a golden rule for all travelers to have everything that you need whenever you go too far away from home. And so you might need a powerbank in case your phone runs out of battery. But if in case you forgot to bring a powerbank with you, these USB Charging Ports may help you along the way. Smartphones are becoming more powerful, bigger in battery size Today's smartphones are now becoming more powerful than ever. Entry-level to Mid-range smartphones are now packed at least 3000mAh battery. That's enough power to run at least a day with normal usage. But what if you forgot to charge your phone? Well, in that case, you're lucky enough to have these USB Charging Ports and could save you throughout your journey. Charging ports are fragile, some of them may not work Based on our travel experience, some of these charging ports did not work. You can easily spot it when the port isn't showing some light, or when you try to charge up your phone and the charging port did not hold a charge to your phone. USB Charging Ports are fragile. A slight mistake to insert a cable to charge up your phone could easily break a charging port. And since it is located mostly on the seats, a broken charging port may need to remove the entire seat, and that alone is costly. In total, there are about 40 USB Charging Ports inside a bus. And to maintain that could be tedious to bus operators. Things such as the engine, electronics, and hydraulics are the most important to maintain, to begin with. Hence, if there are one or two charging ports did not work, bus operators may maintain it sooner. It does not support quick charging These USB Charging Ports are of only 5W, typically a basic charger for a decent smartphone. Now back to what we've said earlier, Entry-level to Mid-range smartphones are now packed at least 3000mAh battery. To charge your phone with said USB Charging Ports might reach to at least 2 hours before it will become fully charged. That's quite too slow, especially if you're on a distant trip. Otherwise, if your journey could reach 5 to 10 hours, then maybe these chargers could help you much. Anyhow, this feature inside a bus is just new, and time may come when these charging ports would get an upgrade, as smartphones and gadgets alike develops from time to time. So, do we really need USB Charging Ports inside a bus? Our answer, is YES.
Despite all downsides we've mentioned above, these charging ports are something that is useful to the riding public. In the end, if you really need it, then you'll definitely gonna need it. If you're screwed because your phone is in need of charge and your destination is too far yet, then this feature inside the bus would surely help you a lot. MV Stella Maris, the newest ship of Starlite Ferries will take its maiden voyage tomorrow at 10:00 AM from Cebu to Surigao.
It was first reported on RPN Surigao last May that Starlite Ferries had their intent to serve the said route. Starlite Ferries' Vice President for Commercial Operations Glenn Tabanao said that from Surigao, the ship will leave to Cebu at 9:00 PM and will arrive at 5:00 AM. Fare would start at PhP 850.00 in a regular class, to PhP 1,050 in a tourist class. Source: RMN Surigao As part of their effort for the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP), the City of General Santos, with the help of several transport cooperatives extends the reach of their eJeepneys with new routes within the city. As of today, it's the first and still the only in the entire Mindanao to have these eJeepneys that serves as a public transportation within the city. The eJeepneys that General Santos City has is the one that is coming from ToJo Motors. It has a capacity of 17 passengers, has a speed of 50 km/h, and is running with an electric AC motor, with a lithium battery that can carry up to 1,000 kilos. The expansion routes were General Santos' Routes 4, 5, 6 and 9, with scope between the Barangays of Buayan, Mabuhay, Apopong, San Isidro and Olympog. What's cool with these jeepneys is that they have an eCard, where passengers can pay through an electronic loadable card and in which shall be available soon for the riding public.
Info source: General Santos LGU, Entrepreneur Philippines It was one week ago when Victory Liner rolls out their brand new Iveco EuroMidi buses for their Dagupan - Sta. Cruz line. These cute, boxy-shaped buses were built in courtesy of Santa Rosa Motorworks Inc. and are powered with an Iveco Tector 6 engine. Now, you may not hear much about Iveco buses yet, but this Italian brand has been around for decades now. It's one of the youngest manufacturing company there is, they boast a reputation for building high-quality light to heavy commercial vehicles that could last for a lifetime. This particular bus model, the Iveco CC150 EuroMidi has a horsepower of 2,700 rPM with a speed of 118 km/h. It can carry 45 passengers, with reclining seats, and this certain bus from Victory Liner has USB Charging Ports on board. It does not have portable toilets, and no, it has no buspads. But this is pretty decent for a short-haul ride from Dagupan City to Sta. Cruz. This bus is also cool, thanks to this bus' Roof-Mounted Direct Drive Aircon that has a two-cycle system. With the blessing of these buses last 17 July at their Dagupan Terminal, they're now immediately rolled out into service for Dagupan City - Sta. Cruz line.
Additional info: Iveco Mayor Isko Moreno orders suspension for Baclaran - Divisoria jeepney route in his city, Manila. This after he sees a lot of complaints by the commuters as drivers tend to cut trips between the said route.
The city government is seeking to escalate this to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and shall file to suspend the said route. “We will file a suspension of the franchise before the LTFRB. I will not be the complainant. It will be the City of Manila. The City government of Manila will file a suspension of the entire Baclaran-Divisoria line,” he said on Tuesday morning. Mayor Isko is citing other routes as well, as a warning that they shall be the next for suspension. “MCU Blumentritt, don’t wait for us to also suspend you. Cubao-Divisoria, Maypajo-Juan Luna, Faura-Pedro Gil, Paco, many Manileños are also complaining about you. Velasquez, that’s only in Tondo but you refused to follow. That’s a few blocks away,” he said. “I’m not after the penalty. I am after the order. I am trying to reach out to more people as possible. I want the employees, normal workers, laborers to pay the exact fare and to complete their trip after their eight hours of work,” he added. Otherwise, the suspension for Baclaran - Divisoria route shall be temporary. Mayor Isko says that once the suspension shall be imposed, he shall leave it to the LTFRB to decide when the suspension shall be lifted. Info Source and few excerpts from The Manila Bulletin Bicolandia's Finest bus company, Raymond Transportation is having a new bus upgrade with their Volvo B8R. These brand-new buses had replaced their former Hino RK units that had served for a couple of years now. These buses are of Euro 5 engines, the utmost standard in transportation. The bus also equipped with portable toilet, buspads, and is at 2 x 1 seating configuration. As seen from this photos coming from Busmania Philippines, the portable toilet can be seen at the back portion of the bus. Seats and interiors are new and is yet to hit our roads for public transport.
Additional info: Busmania Philippines |