It was not so long ago that we told you about a bill that would require land transport terminals to have cleaner facilities and free wi-fi. We also reported that transport terminals who would be caught not abiding by this bill—should the bill be signed into law—will incur a fine of P5,000.00. Well, good news! The 19th of June 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte noticed the importance of this and duly signed the bill into law.
Republic Act (R.A.) 11311 or also known to be the Act to Improve Land Transportation Terminals, Stations, Stops, Rest Areas, and Roll-on/Roll-off Terminals has been signed by our dear President.
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It's worth mentioning that President Duterte acted upon the bill back on the 17th of April 2019 but the media only reported this to happen last Wednesday, June 19th 2019.
What does the law mandate?
Based on what the new law is, it strictly puts emphasis on the fact that land transport terminals should have better and more accommodating facilities to cater passengers.
In addition to that, this new law also directs the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and other agencies in connection to the new mandate to provide free wi-fi or Internet access in land transportation terminals, rest areas, stations, and Roll-On/Roll-Off (RoRo) stops.
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With the new law, transport terminal establishment owners, administrators, and operators shall duly be aware of the condition of the terminal in accordance to this new law.
Fee collection from passengers
This new law also disallows terminals to ask passengers for a fee whenever they feel the need to use the toilet. Although this is the case, the law does not specify if this is for "deluxe sanitary or well-appointed facilities" because some terminals have improved and special types of restrooms.
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Literally, the new law touches a lot of areas in terms of sanitation and comfort as they're also required to have lactation stations separate from restrooms for mothers who need to breastfeed their children.
As we stated above, in the bill we talked about a few months back, terminals, administrators, and operators who won't comply to what these new laws mandate would be fined P5,000.00 a day if they get caught violating. Not just that, they'll also be fined another P5,000.00 per day if they continue to collect fees from passengers from using restrooms. Lastly, P5,000.00 if officials deem that the terminals do not have appropriate areas from lactation or for breastfeeding mothers.
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With the new law, we can be sure that our travel going from one province to another will not be as hassle as how we are used to. Because of the fact that our President wanted land transport terminals to have free wi-fi and cleaner facilities to be able to serve passengers better.
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