The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has ordered the suspension of Earthstar Express Inc. after one of its buses figured in a crash with another bus late Monday night along the EDSA Busway station in Guadalupe, injuring at least 31 passengers.
A show cause order was also issued against Earthstar, ordering the firm to explain why its franchise should not be revoked.
Based on reports, the Earthstar bus lost its brakes and collided with the bus owned by Admiral Transport Inc., which was lining up to load passengers at the Guadalupe Station.
Eight passengers from Admiral bus were wounded, while 23 passengers from Earthstar bus sustained injuries.
The LTFRB likewise requested the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency (PAMI), an insurance firm that provides Passenger Personal Accident Insurance (PPAI) for public utility vehicles (PUVs), to visit the hospitals where the passengers were confined and pay the hospitalization expenses of the injured passengers.
For its part, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) likewise directed the drivers of both buses to appear before its Intelligence and Investigation Division on Thursday and explain why they should not be charged for reckless driving and have their license revoked.
Both drivers’ licenses were also preventively suspended for 90 days.
The two bus firms were also ordered to appear before the LTO-IID to explain why their firms should not be administratively charged for employing a reckless driver.