Free CNG bus rides to start Monday

MANILA, Philippines - Eleven sleeker and cleaner buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) will start plying Metro Manila routes for free Monday as part of the country’s program for alternative fuels. “We have finalized an arrangement that will allow 11 CNG-run buses on Monday to start plying the Metro Manila route," Energy director Mario Marasigan said. The free bus run is phase one of the CNG pilot program for public transportation that aims to eventually ease into commercial operations by April 3. Fares are expected to be at least half of prevailing prices, since CNG will be supplied at the subsidized price of P14 per liter. A city bus running for 200 kilometers per day will have daily savings of about P4,568. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. has dubbed the project “Libreng Sakay." It will involve buses accredited by the DoE plying the Laguna-Cubao/Lawton and the Batangas-Cubao/Lawton routes. Marasigan said a technical working group had already met several times to resolve issues that might arise in the implementation of the project, which had been delayed several times in the past due to “technical problems." “The operators of the CNG-run buses want an assurance that there would be sufficient amount of supply for all the buses that they would convert into CNG. They want to ensure the commercial operation will be sustainable," Marasigan said. Marasigan also said bus operators and Shell are in constant communication to thresh out issues regarding the implementation of the project. Shell CNG, available at the Northbound Binan Shell Service Station along the South Luzon Expressway, is exclusive to DoE-accredited buses plying the Laguna-Cubao/Lawton and the Batangas-Cubao/Lawton routes. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had earlier announced that CNG buses shall also be plying major thoroughfares in Metro Manila to help raise the level of public awareness on clean and indigenous fuels. Shell, operator of the biggest natural gas find in the Philippines, has already spent P100 million for the construction of CNG stations. The clean, indigenous gas is extracted from the Malampaya gas wells in Palawan and compressed at a mother station in Batangas and transported to the Biñan daughter filling station. - GMANews.TV