Roadlink's 10th Anniversary Celebration (2018)

Our tourist bus company Roadlink Travel and Tours, Inc. turned 10 last April 11, 2018 (Wednesday). A lot of things have happened in our family the past few years but I am grateful because Roadlink continued to be the source of Mamoosh's pride and entertainment (now that she's living 'alone').

A brief background --  Our family started operating EDSA city buses in December 1995. In 2001, we finally were able to get our own franchise so the parentals established a company named Royal Star Transport, Inc. A few years after that, my father learned about tourist bus operations so he began acquiring tourist buses (which we operated under Royal Start). In 2008, we bought a tourist bus franchise and thought of establishing a new and separate company that will cater exclusively to private tours. Hence, Roadlink was born.

We sold our city buses in November 2012 and decided to just concentrate on the more lucrative and less-stressful tourist buses. I was already married then and about to migrate in Canada already. My parents were not young anymore and my only brother will be the only one to take-over the business once I am gone. Kaya ok na na isang company na lang ang i-maintain namin.

However, after so many years of tumultuous marriage, my mother finally kicked my philandering father out of our house in 2014. And in 2015, because of my major fight with his married live-in partner (who's the most evil person I've met, I swear!), it was my brother naman who left our house, our mother, and Roadlink (he took several buses and a franchise with him). Hence, my then 68-year old mother had to take over everything (sa Canada na kasi ako nakatira noon at may anak na). But with the help of our loyal employees, she's proven that she can do it even without us. Ayan nga at 10 years na ang Roadlink.

That's the reason why I couldn't let April 11, 2018 pass without a celebration, no matter how simple it may be. Ang sabi ko nga kay Mamoosh, yung ibang bagay nga napaghahanda namin, iyon pa bang nagbibigay sa amin ng kabuhayan? My mother kasi is very simple, wala siyang hilig sa mga parties. Hindi naman siya kuripot, talaga lang wala siyang hilig sa mga pabonggahan. Pero ako naniniwala that occasions are there for a reason - para tayo makapagreflect at makapagpasalamat.

At first, I planned on just treating all our employees sa isang buffet restaurant dito sa Bulacan. But we later realized that it's impossible to gather all of them in one place at a given time. Scattered kasi sila. Yung iba nasa biyahe, nasa garahe, nasa gas station, etc. Peak season din kasi ng tours ngayong summer so everyone is busy (at iba-iba ang schedule), hindi ko pwedeng hilahin sila, say lunch time para sabay-sabay kaming kumain. Marami rin kasing rush na trabaho, lalo na sa maintenance ng mga buses na bibiyahe the following day/s. Tapos malalangis pa sila kasi nga gumagawa sa bus, kaya sobra silang mahahassle kung iinterrupt ko.

So I told Joanne (our trusted overall admin staff) na sa bahay na lang kami maghanda ng merienda. Kahit ano lang, basta may cake lang to celebrate a milestone for our dear Roadlink. Ang sabi ko itext na lang niya lahat ng employees na pumunta sa amin kung gusto nila, no pressure.

We just bought a cake na lang from Red Ribbon. Buti na lang blue ito kasi blue ang color ng Roadlink.

And prepared some ihaw-ihaw. (Sorry naman sa high-tech na ihawan namin, palpak kasi yung talagang ihawan kaya nag-improvise na lang lol).

That's my famous pork barbeque haha!

 Then Joanne cooked spaghetti, request ng isang driver namin na ayaw ng pancit haha.

Super simple lang talaga.

But my little boy was so happy na kasi may cake, makakapag-blow siya ng candle haha.

Only three of our employees came. Yung mga mekaniko, nahihiya ng pumunta kasi marumi raw (kasi nga naggawa ng bus), alanganin kung magbibihis pa sila at babalik kasi sobrang traffic dahil ginagawa ang kalsada malapit sa garahe namin. Yung ibang drivers, nasa biyahe. Yung iba pang drivers, nasa mga bahay nila (kasi nga walang biyahe). Oh well, at least nasabihan naman sila.

Buti na lang may iba pa kaming bisita -- si Tita Oya (Mamoosh's only living sibling na palagi namang nandito) and Raxie (my BFF na talagang pupunta sa amin that day, natapat lang na may chibugan).

Many of our buses are parked in gas stations (malayo kasi ang garahe namin at ginagawa pa ang kalsada kaya mas gusto na ng mga drivers na doon mamalagi at tumambay) so we decided to pack some food para sa mga employees doon. Pakisama saka syempre sharing of blessings.

So there, nairaos din kahit pano. Haha, pero ang sabi ko next time eh ayaw ko na maghanda sa bahay talaga. Sa totoo lang, sa napakakonting pagkain na yan, grabe naging pagod naming lahat haha. Mas mura at madali pa kung kumain/nagpakain na lang kami sa Jollibee o tapsilog lol!

Happy 10th year, Roadlink! Maraming salamat kasi hindi mo kami pinababayaan ni Mamoosh. Mahal ka namin!

Accidents happen

We are deeply saddened by the recent tragic accident last week (February 21, 2017) in Tanay Rizal. A Panda Coach tourist bus carrying students from Bestlink College Novaliches lost control and hit an electric post, leaving 15 people (including the driver) dead.

Picture taken from the net (credits to the owner)

My family owns a small tourist bus company and we've been operating since 2005 (or probably earlier than that because we also operated commuter buses prior to tourist buses). I would like to reiterate that we are "small", because majority of the tourist bus companies in the Philippines are just as small as we are.

Up to this time, we are lucky because in the many years of our operation, we have not encountered any major (i.e. death-causing) accident yet. We are continuously praying that we don't experience what the owners of Panda Coach are going through right now.

Because of this accident, The Department of Education and The Commission on Higher Education have issued a moratorium on educational field trips. This, of course, will affect the whole tourism industry, including us. Ganyan naman palagi kapag may naaaksidenteng tourist bus / students sa field trips, damay-damay lahat.

We've been updating ourselves with the news on this accident and sadly, most people are blaming the school and/or Panda Coach for this tragedy. We cannot blame them. When something bad happens, it has to be somebody's fault. But as a bus operator myself (albeit inactive as of this moment), I just wish to give a bit of my perspective on this matter.

Accidents happen. That's a fact. People would argue that the company should be properly maintaining their fleet to avoid road mishaps and I agree. No bus operator would want to receive a call in the middle of the day (or night) learning that their unit got involved in an accident. We are fervently hoping for a smooth trip every time a bus leaves our garage. But experience tells us that it is nearly impossible to guarantee a 100% hassle-free trip to our customers. Again, a lot of things can happen on the road. And no mechanic, now matter how experienced he is, could assure us that no mechanical problem would arise during the trip. Especially since the buses are not really "brand new" to start with.

And this leads to another argument against the bus company -- why are your buses not brand new?

A brand new tourist bus would cost at least six million pesos. There is no way that we could ever recover that amount with the rate that we are being paid with for our services. For a field trip within Metro Manila, we only get paid around Php9,000 to Php10,000 gross. Try to do the Math, factor in the trip expenses - fuel, driver's salary and food allowance, toll fees (since we are from Bulacan), washing. We are lucky if we are left with Php3,000. Oops, that is not net income yet. What about the wear and tear of the vehicle, salary/benefits of employees, spare parts, business taxes, franchise fees, and other operations costs? Tapos mga lagay pa sa LTO, LTFRB, DOT, MMDA, pulis, etc.

Contrary to what many thinks, the bulk of the field trip fees that the schools collected from their students go to the "middle men" -- yung laway lang ang puhunan. Many schools get charterers (i.e. tour operators) to organize their trip. It is them who earn a lot from from the trips. Saka pala yung mga school officials na may commission per pax. We are at the bottom of every transaction. Whatever that's left from the sharing, yun na lang ang binabayad sa amin.

Why can't we charge higher rates? Competition. Colorum buses killed us. They lowered their rates, too low that we who operate legally are having a hard time to keep up. Kaya nga madalas wala kaming biyahe, nasusulot kasi may mas mura raw. Unlike commuter buses, our buses don't run every day. We have to rely on charterers to survive (majority of our trips come from them). Hence, sila ang nagtatakda ng presyo. This is the reason why small tourist bus companies remain small.

Tourist bus companies also get blamed for getting "inefficient" drivers. Yes, the Management is certainly responsible for its employees. But like any business owners or HR practitioners would know, many employees will surprise you later on. You hired them because you've had the impression that they were ok, pero hindi pala sa kalaunan. Or in some cases, your employees are generally good pero nagkakaproblema din syempre paminsan-minsan which affects their performance.

No bus operator would intentionally hire a "bad" (kaskasero, barumbado, adik) driver. That will be business suicide. But because the drivers work "on their own," we cannot observe them all the time. And we can't just fire an erring driver, mind you. There's DOLE that we have to answer to.

I have to be clear, I am not saying that the bus operators are faultless. The school,  the tour operator, the bus owner, and the driver involved have their share of responsibility (and liability) to that accident in Tanay. Even several government agencies can take some blame. To condemn just one party is certainly not fair.

Thousands of field trips are being conducted every year and a single accident does not represent the whole. Accidents happen, whether we like it or not.