A bus terminal using state-of-the-art technology that will allow it to transact cashless and paperless is what the city government wishes to see in the Bicol Central Station (BCS).

BCS Manager Roderick Reforsado said the plan, once realized, would help the transportation facility to operate almost alike to the Araneta Center Bus Port in Cubao, Quezon City, from which the modernization plan was patterned.

“Aside from having a cashless and paperless transactions, we also see to it that public safety and order is maintained inside the facility and within its perimeters that is why we decided to put up there an entrance gate and installed more CCTV cameras,” he said.

He said that the physical improvements and upgrading of services is contained in development and modernization program of BCS, the needed funds for the program will be shouldered by the BCS itself.

Reforsado said that by September this year, when the construction of LCC Hypermart is completed, BCS will be equipped with 2-phase CCTV cameras, will be installed with glass door entrance and exit gates, and automatic glass doors at the lobby of provincial bound buses.

The installation of doors and cameras is in compliance to the National Land Transportation Security Program of the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) including the procurement and installation of two sets of Door Metal Detector and Luggage/Baggage X-Ray Scanner Security Machine.

The projects are included in the bus terminal’s Capital Expenditure Redevelopment Plan, the implementation of which was delayed because of Covid-19 pandemic.

Phase 2 of the modernization program includes: The adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID)-based automated billing and payment collection; RFID-based lane assignment software and bay digital display; and RFID-based turnstiles for passengers;

The construction of a more convenient air-conditioned passengers holding and departure areas at the existing food court and bus unloading bays, which will be transferred and redeveloped to another location.

Setting of new heavy-duty traffic tiles on the facility’s entire floor will also be made along with the installation of heavy-duty aluminium glass window and wall in front of the loading bays for the safety of passengers and security of their belongings;

Additional two panels of terminal display system that updates passengers of real-time information of trip schedules, bus features, available seats, and status of bus and trips will be installed, maintain, and continuously improved.

The BCS management was able to collect around P51 million in net income for year 2019 and only P21 million in 2020 because of hampered operations in that year. It was on March 17, 2020 when the entire Luzon was placed on lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

A newly-built PUV terminal was inaugurated and formally opened on Saturday, November 6, at Barangay Triangulo in Naga City.

The P8-M transportation facility, of which the city is devoid of for 9 long years, has started to operate on the following day after its inauguration with an initial of 37 passenger jeepneys plying the Rinconada and Partido routes.

Mayor Nelson Legacion said the facility, which is owned and operated by Ruby Shelter Builders Realty and Development Corporation with Engr. Ruben Sia and daughter Atty. Ruby Jane S. Isla as top-tier executives, joins the long list of development projects established by private individuals supporting the economic agenda of his administration.

Atty. Sia-Isla said that she is hoping that in the near future the public will see the facility, which sprawls on 1,515 square meters – expandable to 6,373 square meters – operating along with various businesses.

The lawyer is Engr. Sia’s only child who had been with corporate world for 22 years – with Metrobank group under investment banking and with San Miguel Corporation. She said she regarded her coming back to Naga as an opportunity to be with her beloved parents who nurtured her with love and care.

“We hope that by the second quarter of 2022, we can see a massive construction works of commercial establishments in that area while on the other side are several locators busy supervising their stores which are fully operational,” she said.

In his Facebook page, Legacion thanked the Sia family for putting up the PUV east-bound terminal engage in transporting passengers from Naga to the municipalities in the 4th and 5th congressional districts of Camarines Sur and vice versa.

The mayor said that he is expecting that with the establishment of the terminal, the passengers’ vans, which ply the same routes as the passengers’ jeepneys, will no longer occupied the left and right shoulders of roads near the area while waiting for their customers.

Atty. Sia-Isla said the van terminal which at present operating at a site near a private school will soon be transferred to the east-bound terminal along with the passenger jeepneys.

Pigkanselar nguna kan Inter Agency Task Force an byahe haling rehiyon Bicol pasiring sa Manila kaibahan na an iba pang ciudad asin banwaan na sakop kan National Capital Region (NCR) huli ta an Bicol yaon sa Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) mantang nasa Modified Enhance Community Quarantine an NCR.

Pigpahayag ni Roderick Reforsado, manager kan Bicol Central Station na magkakaigwa nin byahe an mga commercial buses sa aldaw na ipaotob na sa Manila an MGCQ.

Susog sa Memorandum Circular 2021-023 na pigpaluwas kan Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) kan Abril 10, ngonian na taon, an byahe haling Camarines Sur asin Ciudad nin Naga pasiring sa Manila asin iba pang lugar na sakop kan NCR nakatalaan kuta nang bukasan kasoodma, Abril 15, alagad nakalaag sa nasambit na kasuguan na an bubukasan na byahe para sana sa mga lugar na yaon sa GCQ asin MGCQ.

Huli kaiyan, dae kaibahan an mga bus na haling Bicol an makakapagbyahe pasiring sa Manila asin iba pang lugar sa NCR na yaon sa MECQ.

Naglalaom an mga Bicolano na sa pagbunkaras kan bulan nin Mayo, ngonian na taon, sa panahon na ideklara na magin MGCQ an Manila asin kainteruhan kan NCR, bubukasan man giraray para sa operasyon kan mga bus an byaheng Naga-Manila asin vice versa.

Sa ngonian, an BCS nagpapalarga lang nin mga bus na an byahe intra-province route o sa laog sana kan Camarines Sur asin inter-province route o byahe pasiring pagtaraed na provincia kan Camarines Sur siring kan Camarines Norte asin Albay.

Dapit sa mga byaherong boot maglaog sa Naga, pigpapaotob ngonian kan Bicol-IATF an reglamento na palusoton asin togotan sana na maglaog sa ciudad idtong mga pig aapod “essential” travelers asin dae totogotan na maglaaog an mga byaheros na gikan sa mga lugar na yaon sa ECQ asin MECQ status.