GV Florida Transport

Etymology

The name of the bus company is derived from the founders of the company, the Florida brothers - George Florida and Virgilio Florida, Jr. - of which their initials of their first names were used as the name of the said company.

History

G.V. Florida Transport, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 by the Father (Virgilio Florida) and his son (George Florida) from Barangay Matucay, Allacapan, Cagayan That time the now defunct EMC Transportation, Inc. was the largest bus company operating in Cagayan and Quirino provinces. The company operated formerly as Florida Liner, which was founded by Virgilio Florida, Sr. at the end of the 1970s. Even as a new player in the industry back then, GV Florida has attracted the riding public with its ultra-luxury buses; with the distinctive flowery livery, on a pink body color, their company color, adorning the all sides of their buses. G.V. Florida Transport ferries goods and passengers from Metro Manila to Cagayan Valley Region and Ilocos Region. Also, it operates inter-provincial routes between neighboring provinces in Cagayan Valley.

G.V. Florida Transport started its Ilocos Route when they acquired F. Franco Transit and B. Trans. It expanded more with the acquisition of Autobus Transportation's Ilocos line. They also expanded its Cagayan Valley and Isabela route when they acquired Viva Alladin, Ballesteros Bus Line, and Dagupan Bus Company's franchises. With the acquisition of the remaining of Autobus' routes, GV Florida will commence its Baguio City's route.

G.V. Florida Transport is noted for being the first Philippine bus company to introduce the "Sleeper class", with Golden Dragon, Higer & Hino RM (with DM14 Series) sleeper buses currently servicing Manila-Tuguegarao,and Manila-Laoag-Tuguegarao routes

A sister bus company, GMW Florida Trans Inc., is being operated by the other siblings of George. This company serves the Santiago-Cauayan-Tuguegarao-Laoag and Tuguegarao-Abra via Bantay/Vigan routes.

During the later part of 2011, GV Florida Transport expanded its fleet by purchasing 6 MAN R39 18.350 as part of its Super Deluxe fleet and 20 Exclusively modified PHI Grandeza RM as part of its deluxe fleet. They continued to purchase PHI Grandeza and they used this model to re-body some of their Korean buses. As of year 2013, they now start purchasing Del Monte DM14 Series with Hino RM chassis as their Deluxe and Super Deluxe fleet.

At an early morning of February 7, 2014, a Florida bus with plate number TXT-872 fell into the ravine, located in Sitio Pagang in Barangay Talubin in Bontoc. It was carrying 45 people killing 14 people, including one Dutch and one Canadian national, and Filipino actor Tado Jimenez.

Recently, GV Florida Transport is continued to expand of bus units by purchasing 2 Higer U-Tour Series, 5 Hino RM Grandecho II Series acquired from Hino Motors Philippines (Pilipinas Hino, Inc), and 4 Hino RM with DM16 Series (body assembled from Del Monte Motor Works, Inc.) as part of Deluxe fleet. As of now, they acquired 3 Hino RM (with DM14 facelift and buttlift) as part of new Sleeper Class fleet.

Fare class

G.V. Florida has employed various types of fare classes. These are:

The Operating Fleet

G.V. Florida has grown to about 300 buses.

Note: All of their Korean-made units (F-Series) have been either rebodied or sold to other bus companies.

Destinations

Passengers may board and leave the bus at any point.

Fleet Numbering

G.V. Florida Transport has its own special numberings on every kind of their units.