Natural gas buses start rolling out
Alena Mae S. Flores
Manila Standard
SEVERAL buses will soon be plying their Metro Manila routes on compressed natural gas, and the government is poised to launch its alternative fuel project with free rides from Batangas and Laguna to the metropolis.
According to Mario Marasigan, director of the energy utilization and management bureau of the Department of Energy, 10 to 12 percent of the premature deaths in Metro Manila are caused by outdoor pollution, and 80 percent of the pollution is caused by vehicle emissions. The government is pressing the implementation of an alternative fuels program to solve this problem.
Marasigan said the government has tapped the private sector to implement the program using compressed natural gas, a clean and cost-efficient fuel that is being promoted for use by the public transportation sector.
Last October, the program reached a milestone when President Arroyo launched the government’s pilot compressed natural gas project spearheaded by the Shell Group of Companies, he said.
Shell, the operator of the Malampaya gas field in Palawan, will supply the natural gas to public utility vehicles through its natural gas station in Batangas and satellite filling station in Biñan, Laguna, Marasigan added.
Shell officials said the natural gas stations were not able to supply CNG-receptive vehicles, mostly buses accredited by the energy department, because of technical problems that had since been solved.
Marasigan said the accredited buses plying the Laguna-Cubao/Lawton and Batangas-Cubao/Lawton routes could now fill up on natural gas at the Biñan Shell CNG station at the northbound side of the South Luzon Expressway.
“We are hoping that we can do it by the Holy Week so that more people can avail of the free ride but, if not, it will definitely happen by the end of March or the first week of April,” he said, adding that videos on CNG would be played on the free rides while flyers and leaflets would be distributed.
The buses will traverse Edsa and pick up passengers in Cubao and Quezon City Circle. They will also pass through the South Superhighway, Quirino, Lawton and Roxas Boulevard (Mall of Asia) before proceeding to Batangas.
Marasigan said 11 buses would participate during the free ride program, 10 buses would come from KL CNG Bus Transport Corp., while one bus would be provided by HM Transport.
KL CNG Bus owns 12 buses that were imported from China at P5 million each or a total of P60 million. There are 22 CNG buses available this year, but the government hopes there will be around 70 by next year.
Shell will sell the compressed natural gas at P14.52 a liter, but the authorities see no need for fare cuts because the bus operators cooperated with the government in the project and imported CNG-receptive buses.
The imported CNG buses were bought from loans and financed by the operators two years ago, but they were not deployed because of the technical problems reported by Shell.
“Let’s give the operators a chance to recoup their investments,” Marasigan said, adding the energy department had already held safety-training seminars, in cooperation with the Bureau of Fire Protection, to prepare firemen in dealing with untoward incidents.
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