CLARK FREEPORT – In a bid to decongest Metro Manila, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has taken exception to its 20-year-old moratorium on approving provincial bus franchises and allowed Genesis Transport Services, Inc. (Genesis) to operate the first point-to-point (P2P) bus service between the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Clark International Airport (Clark airport) here.
At the launching of the project here on Thursday, Transportation Sec. Arthur P. Tugade said apart from decongesting Metro Manila by boosting patronage of Clark airport, “it is also our plan to have Clark as hub center in this part of Luzon.”
He said eventually, Clark airport would also be directly linked via P2P projects to Dagupan City, Subic Freeport, Tarlac City, and San Jose in Nueva Ecija.
Tugade launched here the first route linking the airport here to NAIA. He stressed that the awarding of franchise by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to Genesis underwent transparent bidding and was aired via live streaming.
Each bus can carry 50 passengers and is equipped with a CCTV, a GPS tracker, wifi , and charging stations for mobile gadgets.
From Clark, passengers can choose to get off at either Trinoma Mall in Quezon City or at the NAIA Terminal 3. A trip from Clark to NAIA will cost P350, Clark to Ortigas in Pasig City at P300, and Clark to North Edsa in Quezon City at P250.
Genesis operations manager Rely Jalbuna said the “the LTFRB held a public auction for the 48 bus franchises that would run between two routes, Clark-NAIA and Clark-North EDSA. Genesis won the public bidding for the 48 franchises.”
Jalbuna also noted that Genesis “is the first bus to get a franchise after a 20-year moratorium on the grant of provincial bus franchises, the first P2P bus service for the regional, the first franchised bus to have two international airports as end-to-end points.”
Genesis buses are expected to transport arriving or departing passengers either way between Clark airport and NAIA. This, amid government plans to eventually transfer a number of domestic and international flights at NAIA to the airport here as part of moves to decongest Metro Manila.
