The Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), operator of Ceres buses, has ensured strict compliance with minimum public health standards as it resumed trips between Negros Occidental, Cebu, and Negros Oriental over the weekend.

Jesideth Marquez-Seballos, legal and media relations officer of VTI, said on Monday that after receiving approval from the Negros Occidental provincial government, they reopened these routes that were previously suspended due to travel restrictions amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“We are happy. After a long period of time, we are back to serve the riding public with the utmost care,” Marquez-Seballos told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

She said the VTI is fully adhering to the travel guidelines set by both the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

“We will continue to enforce social distancing and use of face masks in all the trips,” Marquez-Seballos added.

In Negros Occidental, the provincial government has approved the operation, with a maximum of 70 percent capacity, of four bus units from Bacolod City to Dumaguete City via Mabinay town in Negros Oriental; two bus units from Bacolod City to Cebu Province, also via Mabinay; and four bus units from Bacolod City to Cebu Province via Don Salvador Benedicto town in Negros Occidental.

All these buses take off from the Ceres South Terminal in this city.

The provincial government has also required the VTI to submit a copy of the passenger manifest for the purpose of the local government units’ monitoring and contact tracing.

Fully-vaccinated individuals are required to present an electronic or printed copy of the travel coordination permit issued through the Safe, Swift, and Smart Passage (S-PaSS) travel management system that will be approved upon submission of the vaccination card or certificate.

Passengers who are not vaccinated will be required to submit an S-PaSS permit as well as a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test result (RT-PCR). (PNA)