Boquet 511

BUS TRANSPORTATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

Y. BOQUET
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France & University of the Philippines-Diliman, Philippines
Email: Yves.Boquet@u-bourgogne.fr

ABSTRACT

In the absence of any decent rail transportation network, travel in the Philippines relies heavily on the
use of buses, city buses as well as intercity buses. This paper, based on personal field observations (in
MetroManila as well as on bus routes from Manila to Santa Cruz, Daet, and Angeles City), a local
survey of travel practices, and a review of writings about bus services, will first investigate some of the
idiosyncrasies of bus travel within the Philippines (organization and governance of bus travel, practice
of bus travel by users). It will then focus on the problems caused in MetroManila by excessive bus
traffic before examining policies underway to make traffic more fluid in the National Capital Region
of the Philippines, especiallly the effort to develop integrated bus terminals and to reduce bus flows on
EDSA, the major thoroughfare in MetroManila.

Keywords: bus travel; bus terminals; Philippines; MetroManila

1. INTRODUCTION

In many developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, especially where the development of
railroads has been minimal, buses are a way of life. Most people do not own a private motor vehicle,
and it is the only way to get around a large city, and even more to travel from one city to other. In
Brasilia, a huge bus station serves the needs of poor people going to/from Southeast or Northeast
Brazil from/to the pioneer fronts areas of Amazonia and Mato Grosso. However, bus transport is quite
often marked by many insufficiencies (Iles 2005).

In cities choked by heavy vehicular traffic of motorcycles (Vietnam) and automobiles (China),
transportation planning choices vary from the implementation of Bus Rapid Transit schemes (Rede
Integrada in Curitiba, Brazil, Transmilenio in Bogota, Colombia, Transjakarta in Indonesia, BRT in
Guangzhou, China) to the building of massive subway systems (Beijing, Shanghai). The low level of
development of bus services in some countries such as Cambodia has led to analyses about the
adaptation of bus service to the travel behavior of urban dwellers (Choocharukul & Ung 2011) while
several authors have focused on bus drivers’ behaviors (Park et al. 2011, Htun et al. 2012).

In this paper we will focus on the Philippines, where buses are widely used, drivers’ behavior
questionable, and buses held responsible for much of urban congestion and pollution. This paper is
based on field work in MetroManila, and on observations made on repeated bus trips of the author
from Manila to provinces (Santa Cruz, Laguna via Calamba and Los Baños, Laguna; Daet, Camarines
Norte, through Lucena, Quezon ; Angeles City, Pampanga).

The paper will first present some general characteristics of bus travel inside the Philippines, with
observations of travel behaviors of passengers and vendors, then will narrow its focus to MetroManila,
insisting on the role of the buses in Manila’s traffic congestion, and finally on policies underway to
solve congestion by reducing the number of buses in the streets of MetroManila.
512 Travel Behaviour & Society

2. TRAVELING BY BUS IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines depend on bus service to link cities with each other. Only on Luzon island does exist
an anemic rail network linking Manila to the Bicol region, with less than one train per day. The
contrast is quite strong with Java, Indonesia, where Jakarta and Surabaya have rail service many times
per day, and of course with another Asian archipelagic country, Japan, where people are among the
highest users of trains anywhere in the world. This leaves aviation for long distance travel between the
Philippine islands, and maritime transport on shuttle-type routes crossing inter-island straits on short
cruises, or longer journeys linking for example Manila to Cebu or cities in Mindanao.

For most people not owning a private automobile, the “public utility bus” (PUB) is the only practical
way to travel on medium or long distances, since jeepneys (PUJ) are usually limited to local routes of
at most 20 to 30 kilometers, both in cities and in rural areas.

According to official data, about 33.000 buses ply the roads of the country and the streets of its cities,
particularly in megacity MetroManila. The structure of the bus industry – making difficult the
collection of detailed data on traffic, bus loads, revenues of bus companies – is characterized by the
high number of private bus companies, some quite large (such as provincial buses companies Victory
Liner, more than 900 units in its fleet, DLTB, Dagupan Lines, Philtranco), but some quite small (a
handful of buses). Bus companies are awarded franchises to run certain routes by a government agency,
LTRFB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, http://ltfrb.gov.ph/main). Rates per
kilometer are determined by public authorities, therefore limiting competition on price, so that many
bus companies try to maximize their revenues by allowing on board more passengers than there are
seats, therefore people stand in the aisle, a major safety risk at higher speed travel on the highways
than in traffic jams in Manila. Competition is also ferocious for attracting passengers, with
“conductors” on board barking the name of the bus destination to passengers waiting on the side of the
road, and with drivers frequently engaging in agressive behaviors of cutting off trajectories of
competing buses and driving faster than speed limits or simple common sense would command.
Given the high level of competition between bus companies, and the possibility of hailing an intercity
bus (or getting off it) at any point alongside its troute, even if there are “official” stops where most
buses will make even a short halt, travel by bus is relatively easy and cheap. A 2 to 3 hours ride from
Manila to Santa Cruz (Laguna) or Angeles City (Pampanga), costs only 120-130 pesos (3 US dollars)
on board an air-conditioned bus, and about 90 pesos (2 dollars) on an “ordinary” bus, with no
difference in price between operators.

With the help of local interpreters, we conducted a short field survey (in tagalog language) in
Pagsanjan, Laguna, in November 2011, about travel habits of the residents of this small town (Boquet
2012). If 47% of the 165 surveyed households, most of them working class or farmers, declared
owning a motorcycle and 9% a motorized tricycle, only 5% had a jeep and 1% a truck. None had a
private automobile, and 38% owned no vehicle whatsoever. To the question: “how often do you travel
to Manila ?”, 11% answered “every week”, 33% “at least once a month”, and 38% “ at least once a
year”. Asked what was the mode of transportation they used to go to Manila and why, 50% answered
“ordinary bus” (cheaper) and 39% “aircon bus” (comfort) for a total of 89% of the answers. The third
popular answer was “by car or private van”, driven by a friend or relative (8%). Other answers (1 only)
were “rented van”, “company truck” or “jeepney”. The number one motive of travel (67%) was
“family visit”, “shopping” (in Manila megamalls) coming way behind at only 10%, same as
“administrative paperwork”. Only 4% were commuting to Manila.. This gives some indications on the
uses of buses in the Philippines, even if this test survey, first in a bigger series planned for future
research, is limited to one place located about 90 km from Manila.

Observing people on board buses shows a frequent presence of families, with 3-4 children, more often
with their mother, sometimes the father or grandparents. They would use the bus for longer distances.
However, young adults or students appear to use the bus for shorter distances – rather than jeepneys –
for instance boarding in large numbers at the UP Los Baños campus in Laguna and getting off on
 Boquet 513

different points alongside the route towards Santa Cruz.

On board the buses, passengers’ activities fall into a few wide categories. Many just sleep or at least
doze off. Another frequent activity is texting on cell phone. We have observed many bus travelers
texting non-stop for 30, 45 minutes, even longer. A third past-time is chat between travelers, a few will
eat and some will watch the movie broadcast on the TV monitor on-board the bus, this movie being
most of the time an American B-series action movies including a lot of violence (un-censored even in
the presence of many children on-board). We have not observed anyone reading : the noise generated
by the movie is a powerful deterrent to any serious reading.

For longer trips such as from the Bicol region (SE Luzon) to Manila, lasting 8, 10 hours or more, bus
drivers will make stops every two hours or so, allowing passengers to stretch their legs or relieve
themselves in “comfort rooms” before boarding again, Those pit stops often take place where food can
be purchased, sometimes as roadside restaurants. Different companies will stop at different places : on
the Manila-Daet route, Philtranco buses do not stop in same spots as Superlines or DLTB buses.

Bus travel offers many opportunities for vendors. Around bus terminals, many sell different items,
mostly food, to impending travelers. Alongside the route, when buses stop at active boarding spots,
such as a freeway exit (Calamba, Laguna), 4 to 6 vendors also enter the bus, offering water bottles
(“tubig ! tubig !”), peanuts (“mane ! mane !”), other foods, sometimes local specialties (“buko pie”, a
coconut cake), on occasions non-food items. They walk to the back of the bus, then stand in the central
aisle of the bus, waiting for the next stop, at which point they will get off the bus, cross the road, and
wait for the next bus taking them back to the starting point. Many vendors wear uniforms (usually a
colored t-shirt stamped with their name or registration number, sponsored by a local politician,
congressman or mayor). This practice of on-board vendors is widespread. However, a minority of bus
companies have banned it, with a sign on the bus entry door : “no vendors allowed aboard this bus”. It
happens mostly on long distance buses with the highest level of comfort (aircon, wifi on board,
individual electric outlets), thereby differentiating the “product” (bus service) as higher quality, the
ban on vendors being part of the upgrading of the travel service.

3. BUSES AND TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN METROMANILA

Greater Manila is a classic case of excessive concentration of people and economic activity on the
small territory of a national capital city. It accounts for 36% of the Philippines’ economic output, 18%
of its population and 28% of motor vehicles, on barely 0.2% of the country’s land area. The population
density of Manila is among the highest of the major metropolitan areas in the world with a comparable
land area. It is almost twice as dense as New York City, and only surpassed by Mumbai and Dhaka.

Many parts of Manila experience heavy traffic congestion, especially in areas of high population
density (more than 70.000 people / sq. km in Tondo) and narrow streets in old neighborhoods such as
Quiapo (Manila) or Guadalupe (Makati). In these areas, street vending encroaches on the limited road
space, slowing down further an already busy vehicular traffic, largely made of jeepneys and trisikel.
Heavy downpours during the rainy season, from June to November, make some low-lying streets often
impassable, due to widespread flooding, a major topic of concern in the Manila metropolitan area. Its
root causes are many, both physical (monsoon rains, typhoons, low altitude, sea-level rise) and human
(urban sprawl and hard surfacing reducing the water absorption capacity of soils, slow sinking of
alluvial soils under the weight of city structures, deforestation in the hills around Manila, role of
squatter settlements and garbage disposal impeding the normal flow of rivers). Flooding adds to traffic
woes in many parts of the Manila area.

A major component of the quality of traffic is the availability of road space. In this regard, Manila is
also one of the cities most likely to be congested, since the density both of roads per square kilometer
and roads per resident appears very low in Manila, compared to other metropolitan areas. There are
514 Travel Behaviour & Society

simply not enough roads to allow for smooth traffic, and many are quite narrow. A single bus will be
enough to create a local traffic jam when turning into such a road from its terminal (such as Santrans
depot near the Doroteo Jose metro station in Quiapo). The provision of roads per square kilometer in
1980 was quite low in Asian cities, before the rapid rise of motorization rates, and this cannot be
solved quickly, unles there is drastic redesign of the whole urban fabric, which only China has
attempted on a large scale.

The most important roadway in MetroManila is the 24 kilometers long circumferential road C-4,
referred commonly as EDSA (Epifanio De los Santos Avenue), which runs from Caloocan in the
North to Pasay in the South, crossing through Quezon City, Mandaluyong and Makati. EDSA serves
as a major connector between the Northen and Southern part of the metropolitan area, as well as South
Luzon to North Luzon in general, due to the geographical setting of the metropolitan area between two
water bodies (Manila Bay to the West and Laguna de Bay to the Southeast), with mountains
preventing any major transportation activity on the eastern side of central Luzon. It is also an essential
component of the spatial structuration of the Manila metropolitan area. Its powerful role into shaping
the geography of activities within the metropolitan area is apparent with the location of the shopping
malls, car dealerships, business centers, hotels, governement agencies and provincial bus terminals
alongside this axis of circulation.

According to MMDA data, about 350.000 people use the EDSA roadway everyday (156.000 vehicles,
with a density of 565 vehicles/kilometer). Some of them in private automobiles, many in buses.
Almost none in jeepneys, banned from using most of the length of EDSA. Buses, provincial and local,
represent a large part of the traffic on EDSA, and are routinely blamed on the traffic woes. A detailed
review of about 50 pictures of traffic taken by this author on several stretches of EDSA on different
days of the week in June/July 2013 show the following average percentage of vehicles : private cars
40%, buses 27%, taxis 12%, jeepneys 10%, motorbikes 6%, trucks 5%. Given the size of a bus
compared to an automobile, it is easy to imagine the role of buses in traffic jams. The most common
problems are: too many transport providers, unreliable service, irregular and/or unpredictable
frequency. Route coverage is poor, because buses concentrate on few corridors while neglecting other
parts of the city. Results are: a low profitability, leading to poor quality vehicles, a poor safety
performance, exaggerated pollution and mediocre consideration for passengers (Vergel de Dios n.d.).
The sheer abundance of buses and bus companies leaves no choice to the traveler, because ther eis no
need to wait : people will hop on the first bus coming their way (Guariño, Cal & Lidasan 2001).

City buses are operated by on 254 routes, operated by 165 bus companies, some with a rather large
fleet (Santrans 150 buses on 8 different routes, Pascual Liner 153 buses on 2 routes, RRCG 163 buses
on 5 routes), some of them very many small companies (California Bus Lines 3 vehicles, Valdez
Quirino only 1 bus). On the most competitive routes, more than 10 bus companies (and up to 20) are
fighting for passengers, including in traffic, where buses position themselves to block other buses from
moving forward, in a wild concert of horns barely covering the voices of “conductors” calling for
passengers “Alabang ! Alabang !”. 171 routes (67%) are run using part of EDSA. 17 of the 20 busiest
bus routes in MetroManila use part of totality of EDSA, especially between makati and Quezon City.

7736 (about 60 percent) of the 13067 registered buses plying Metro Manila roads are provincial buses,
linking the Manila metropolitan area with regions across the Philippines. Even some bus terminals are
located in other parts of MetroManila (Gil Puyat LRT 1 in Pasay, Sampaloc near Quiapo : LRT1/LRT
2 junction), most companies have established their terminals alongside EDSA, with major
concentrations in Pasay (Saulog, Philtranco, Victory Liner, DLTB, Silverstar, Alfonso Liner..), and in
the Cubao-Kamuning stretch (Superlines, Santrans, HM Transit, Baliwag Transit, Dominion Bus, De
la Rosa Liner, Dagupan Bus, JAC Liner, JAM Transit, Victory Liner, Philtranco, DLTB, Daet Express,
Lucena Bus, Florida Bus, Genesis, Five Star …).
 Boquet 515

4. BUS POLICIES TO REDUCE TRAFFIC CONGESTION

What could be the solutions to solve Manila’s traffic problems, particularly alongside EDSA, which
appears clearly as the major circulation problem - even if not the only one, considering the bumper-to-
bumper traffic of jeepneys and trisikel in other areas - in the Manila region ? Answers to traffic
problems have been looked about in many cities around the world, and in Asia in particular.

The effort can be on providing alternate transportation modes to the automobile by pushing for mass
transit. Such programs have been quite impressive in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, China. In
midsize European and American cities, streetcars have come back as a backbone of green urban
policies (Portland, San Diego, Cologne, Freiburg, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg). In Manila, the
metrorail network consist of only 3 lines, clearly insufficient for answering the mobility needs of a
megacity of 12 million people.

A second way is to limit the use of private automobiles. It can be done four ways: a) making them
more expensive to operate (high taxes on gasoline and car acquisition, abolition of free parking); b)
implementation of road pricing, first developed in Singapore; c) encouragement to car sharing (car
pooling, HOV lanes….); d) restricted use in parts of the city (pedestrian zones, Umweltzonen in
Germany for clean cars only). None of this has really been proposed seriously or pushed actively in
MetroManila.

A third way is to plan the city to limit travel need, reducing the flow of vehicles and at the same time
encouraging people to adopt a healthier lifestyle less conducive to obesity if they can walk instead of
drive, provided land use allows for proximity between housing, jobs, shops, schools and recreational
facilities. Transit-oriented development reorganizes the city according to its public transportation
corridors, encouraging a concentration of activity and housing alongside well-served corridors. In
Manila, the concentration of activities alongside EDSA is in fact already a spontaneous form of TOD !

Bus rapid transit has been successfully developed in South America, first in Curitiba, Brazil (“Rede
Integrada”), then in Bogota, Colombia (“Transmilenio”). Jakarta has decided to go the South
American way by developing a BRT system (“Transjakarta”), followed by many Chinese cities
(Kunming, Beijing). Given the importance of buses in the Philippines, a bus policy is certainly needed
in Manila. Could a BRT system be implemented in Manila, especially on EDSA ?

Since most major bus routes use EDSA it may appear possible to run it the same way as in Guangzhou,
where bus, both public and private, enter and exit the BRT corridor. It could be done at a minimal cost
by reserving some sections of the existing road to buses, doing in fact a “BRT light”, the same way
Paris has implemented bus lanes where cars are not allowed. This could be attempted quickly before a
more complete BRT system can be implemented. Financing for a small makeover of EDSA could be
obtained by charging a special tax on users, to be used exclusively for improvements on bus transit.
However, the very essence of BRT model, as created in Curitiba and followed elsewhere, is to operate
the bus vehicles in a metrorail mode, with controlled access stations, clearly separated right-of-way
and payment of bus in station and not on board the buses.

At the current time, Philippine authorities have decided to attack directly the bus problem on EDSA
with three complementary measures, aimed at providing more fluidity in bus transit.

The first one is to try to put some order in the way people embark and disembark from local buses. In
December 2012, a “ bus segregation scheme”, has divided them in 3 groups, A (Edsa-Alabang), B
(Edsa-Baclaran) and C (others). Alternate bus stops have been erected alongside EDSA: “A” buses can
only pick up/drop-off passengers in “A” designated stops (colored red). Same for “B” buses (blue
color). “C” buses may use both “A” and “B”. The hope is to limit the number of sudden stops of buses
and the jockeying into position of rival buses. The A, B or C sign is prominently displayed in the front
of the bus, and agents of the Metropolitan Manila Develoment Authority (MMDA) have been
516 Travel Behaviour & Society

deployed to implement observance of the rule by bus drivers, also to control and stop “colorum buses”,
unregistered and therefore escaping any legislation on safety.

The second measure, which took effect in August 2013 and may possibly revolutionize the
transportation sytem of Manila and the whole Philippines, is to remove all provincial buses from
EDSA by creating integrated terminals on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, where provincial
buses will stop and transfer passengers to metropolitan transportation. The scheme is inspired by what
has been done in Korea (Seoul’s Gangnam district), also in Indonesia (Surabaya’s
Purabaya/Bungurasih integrated bus terminal). The first integrated terminal serves the provinces of
Batangas and Cavite, to the Southwest of Manila. ”Coastal” is located near Unionwide Mall, between
Mall of Asia and Manila’s airport. Its goal is to remove all Batangas or Cavite-bound buses from
EDSA, therefore starting to reduce the bus-caused congestion. Buses from the Rail transit lines 1 and 3
end stations and metropolitan bus routes leading to “Coastal” will allow transfer between local
transportation and provincial buses, also possible in the future at Alabang in Muntinlupa, for many
years a major ending/starting point for local bus lines and a popular transfer point. Two mixed-use
terminals (transportation, offices, shopping) are planned for other routes.

On the former Food Terminal site in Taguig, a new complex (“Arca South”) is to be built by Ayala
Land Inc., a major real estate developer for buses going Southeast of Manila towards Laguna and
Quezon provinces and the Bicol region of South Luzon. Ayala will also be the lead planner and
manager of the northern integrated terminal in Quezon City, next to Trinoma and SM North Mall, also
to the planned Quezon City CBD ; “Vertis North” will serve bus routes going North, towards the
perimetropolitan provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga and all points in northern Luzon. Integrated bus
terminals, used by most bus companies, already exist in Philippines provincial cities, often at their
edge – Mabalacat-Dau near Angeles City (Pampanga), Lucena (Quezon) –, but the task at hand is
much bigger for the megacity of Manila. When all is implemented, probably in 2015 or 2016, there
should be no more provincial buses on EDSA.

This will certainly change the habits of people used to hop on the first bus passing by on EDSA. Under
the Korean-inspired integrated bus terminal system (“gangnam-style”), tickets with designated seat
numbers will be issued to passengers (De La Cruz 2012). This is to insure orderly boarding and some
safety for passengers, since the identity of fellow travelers will be traceable in case of theft on board
the buses. It may also end the practice of buses traveling with too many extra passengers standing in
the aisles. Departures and arrival of buses will be synchronized, with a hoped-for 10 minutes
turnaround time of buses, as it is done in Seoul. There is strong resistance from bus companies to
change their traditional ways of operation, but the chairman of MMDA and the transportation minister
of the Philippines were pushed to act by the growing impatience of the public about traffic jams.

The third measure, pushed by the newly elector mayor of Manila City, Joseph “Erap” Estrada, after he
took office in July 2013, is a “no travel policy” inside the Manila territory for public utility buses –
running provincial or city routes – if they do not have a terminal located within the city limits. This
has led to protests from bus lines and drivers, who consider that this an obstacle to the freedom of
enterprise and to smooth traffic, by creating new congestion zones at the borders between cities. If
adopted by other municipalities, this could lead to a fragmentation of local bus service across
MetroManila, at a time when a metro-wide policy aims at removing most of the provincial buses. The
Philippine presidency has raised concerns about the inability of some local government to carry out
their mandate in ensuring free-flowing traffic – on EDSA particularly – with the presence of tricycles
in the main thoroughfares when in fact these vehicles are prohibited. Local governement units,
municipalities and barangays, are asked to be more active in enforcing the general rules.

However, a number of unresolved issues remain : agressive style of driving of bus conductors (despite
a 2011 change in the salary calculation, not allowed now to be based on “performance”, i.e. number of
kilometers or passengers carried, but rather on a fixed guaranteed base), oversupply of local buses
running half-empty, emission standards for buses. Many bus companies are controlled by well-
connected personalities, politicians, military officers, showbiz or sports celebrities, who have the
 Boquet 517

political clout to resist attempts to rationalize the supply of bus service and implement strict norms for
buses. The same resistance is seen from the many small operators of jeepneys and tricycle, who are
politically powerful as a rich source of votes. Political will is necessary to implement measures aiming
at taking out of circulation aging and polluting vehicles to reduce vehicular traffic, both on EDSA and
on local roads.

5. CONCLUSION

Solving congestion in the Manila metropolis will not be quick or easy. The street pattern cannot be
altered in one year, and local congestion will remain. Building more roads may not be efficient on the
long term. There is a need for a better rail system, more lines, more frequent spacious trains, better
connected stations. In some parts of EDSA, intermodality appears to work quite well, with easy
transfer from MRT and buses to jeepneys and trisikel.

What can be done is to act decisively to diminish the level of pollution generated by these vehicles,
also by buses often 20 to 30 years of age and poorly maintained, with strict and mandatory emissions
controls and effective standards implementation to phase out non-compliant vehicles, while keeping in
mind their everyday usefulness for commuters including students (half of the trips in Greater Manila),
and their job-creation potential (250.000 jobs in Metro Manila). There should be an effort towards e-
jeepneys, but vehicles currently tested are much smaller than current types, 12-15 seats instead of 20 to
30. Should the jeepney, an icon of Filipino culture, disappear as a dirty and inefficient transport
vehicle ? If traffic is tamed, clean jeepneys could/should continue to play a role, so would the lowly
trisikel and pedicab, serving small neighborhood streets, with much higher standards of comfort and
emissions. An effort to adapt the height of these vehicles may be needed to reflect the increasing size
of urban Filipinos.

The effectiveness of the new policy on provincial buses will be quickly apparent if indeed traffic
volumes diminish substantially after the opening of the Coastal integrated bus terminal. But a
susbstantial reorganization of the whole bus system should be attempted, by encouraging bus
companies to regroup into a smaller number of operators (Guariño, Cal & Lidasan 2001) able to
manage their fleets more efficiently, which would allow them to invest into a reduced fleet of clean,
fuel-efficient clean vehicles, while providing good service to the traveling public. Twenty operators on
one route, which share 75% of its length with another route served by 15 other small operators, this
does not make much sense. Three or four players on the main routes would be more than sufficient,
and would allow more brand identity and differentiation. The same could be said of the myriad micro-
enterprises engaged in trisikel or jeepney management. Private management of bus, jeepneys and
trisikel companies (and why not companies operating all 3 types vehicles as one integrated transport
system ?), under public government guidelines, could become the new norm, as it is in London or
Seoul. This will not require much public investment in a country strapped for funds.

Making Manila a more sustainable city will imply profound changes in the way the transportation
system of the metropolitan area is managed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the University of the Philippines - Diliman for a 4-
month stay in Quezon City as invited professor in the Department of Geography.
518 Travel Behaviour & Society

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