The Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC), the country’s biggest bus operator, has deployed some 167 bus units to transport front-liners during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) being implemented across the country to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
YGBC president and chief executive officer Leo Rey Yanson said they are ready to assist fellow Filipinos in this time of global health crisis.
“This is a time to help others,” Yanson said Thursday.
The Bacolod-based Yanson Group, bannered by Vallacar Transit, Inc. (VTI) as the largest subsidiary, operates the routes of Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Davao, Pagadian, Dipolog, Bohol, and Batangas.
For Bacolod alone, VTI, operator of the fleet of Ceres buses, lent 21 buses to the city government to ferry medical personnel and workers of essential services.
Two other buses serve the towns of Murcia and Valladolid in Negros Occidental.
A total of 30 units have been dispatched to Iloilo and eight in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
In Negros and Panay, the YGBC has partnered with the Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to provide free fuel to the bus units deployed to the two islands.
Every week between April 1 and 15, VTI’s Ceres buses in Bacolod North and South, Dumaguete, and Iloilo branches can refuel free of charge and drivers can avail of free snacks from authorized Shell gasoline stations.
Yanson thanked Pilipinas Shell for partnering with them in extending a helping hand to the country’s front-liners, adding that collaboration among stakeholders is essential to overcome the Covid-19 crisis.
“We are hand-in-hand with the Yanson Group of Bus Companies in overcoming this trial our country is facing,” Pilipinas Shell said in a separate statement.
In Central Visayas, 10 Ceres buses of the Cebu South Branch had been dispatched to the cities of Talisay and Mandaue.
The Cebu North Branch has deployed 27 units, including 15 assigned to the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, and 12 more units for Mandaue. In Bohol, the Southern Star Bus Transit, Inc. also deployed three units.
In Mindanao, the Rural Transit (Mindanao), Inc.’s Cagayan de Oro Yacapin Branch dispatched one unit for Lanao del Norte while Bulua Branch sent two units.
The Dipolog Branch assigned three units.
The Bachelor Express, Inc. dispatched a total of seven buses, including three from the Davao Branch, and four from the Butuan Branch for the use of the Department of Health 13 (Caraga).
The Mindanao Star Bus Transport, Inc. Davao Branch provided six units.
In Luzon, the Ceres Transport, Inc. dispatched 47 bus units. These include the Batangas Branch’s 17 units for the National Capitol Region Police Office, as well as 15 units each for the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. (PNA)