The Quezon City government has announced the updated routes, pick-up and drop-off points for the convenience of commuters as it rolls out its Bus Augmentation Program on Monday (Dec. 7).
“Pinag-aralan nating maigi ang mga ruta at pick-up points upang mas madali ang pagsakay para sa ating mga commuter,” said Mayor Joy Belmonte.
The Mayor earlier entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to help provide additional transportation to commuters.
“Umaasa tayo na makatutulong ang programang ito upang maibsan ang kakulangan sa pampublikong transportasyon at upang mas mabilis at ligtas na makarating ang mga commuter sa kanilang pupuntahan,” she added.
Under the said agreement, the LTFRB will grant provisional authority for public utility buses (PUB) that will be selected from bidders/bus operators to ply through eight routes within the city.
The updated routes are Quezon City Hall-Cubao, Quezon City Hall-Litex/IBP Road, Welcome Rotonda-Aurora Blvd/Katipunan, Quezon City Hall-General Luis, Quezon City Hall-Mindanao Avenue/Quirino,
Quezon City Hall-Gilmore, Quezon City Hall-C5/Ortigas Avenue Extension and Quezon City Hall-Munoz.
According to City Administrator Michael Alimurung, the program will be open to the public during its initial run, but it will eventually require pasengers to present the soon-to-be-released QCitizen ID Card.
Alimurung also allayed worries that the program would contribute to traffic congestion, saying buses will only stop on designated pick-up and drop-off points along their routes.
“We also expect the program to reduce the number of private cars as motorists might opt to take our bus en route to their destination,” said Alimurung.
He added that basic health and safety protocols will be implemented, such as physical distancing, temperature checks, sanitation, and filling out of contact tracing form for each passenger.
The complete list of routes, pick-up and drop-off points are available on the QC’s official Facebook page (fb.com/qcgov) and on its official website (quezoncity.gov.ph).
