Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 28) — Thousands of travelers continue to flock to transportation hubs with most of them heading to provinces for the Barangay at Sangguniang Kabataan Elections and Undas.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Saturday recorded a surge in passengers in ports nationwide.
From midnight to 6 a.m. on Saturday, the PCG said there were 28,968 outbound and 25,650 inbound passengers.
It added that it has placed all districts, stations, and sub-stations on \”heightened alert\” from Oct. 25 to Nov. 6 to manage the expected influx of travelers.
Meanwhile, the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange logged slightly higher foot traffic with 60,574 travelers.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board earlier said over 700 special bus permits are in effect from Oct. 20 to Nov. 6 to accommodate passengers.
The number of passengers at bus terminals in Cubao, Quezon City, however, has not peaked yet as of 8 p.m. Friday.
Heavy traffic remained at the North Luzon Expressway on Saturday afternoon with an estimated 330,000 vehicles passing through the highway since Friday.
“Early this morning hanggang ngayon, medyo marami pa [na vehicles],\” said Robin Ignacio, head of the North Luzon Expressway Traffic Operations.
“‘Yung kahapon, mas marami kaysa normal Friday and then ‘yung ngayon din po parang mas marami rin po kaysa normal Saturday,” he also said.
[Translation: Early this morning until now, there are still a lot of vehicles. Yesterday, there were more vehicles than on a normal Friday, and now there are more vehicles than on a normal Saturday.]
Its management said heavier traffic should be expected as the long weekend continues with an additional 20 to 30 minutes of travel due to a higher volume of vehicles and long queues in toll gates.
