Philippine Rabbit

Updated on Dec 09, 2023

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Service type Provincial Operation Founded 28 August 1946		Headquarters Tarlac City, Philippines Service area Philippines

Slogan "Our Reliability Rolls On" Fleet 66 Buses (Nissan Diesel, Hyundai, KIA, Daewoo, Sunlong, Higer, Guillin Daewoo) Operator Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines, Inc. Motto "Our Reliability Rolls On"

Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines, Inc. (PRBL) is a provincial bus company in the Philippines. It was founded in 1946.

The company's area of coverage extends from Metro Manila to Baguio and northern provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan. Its main terminal in Metro Manila is along Avenida Rizal in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Avenida philippine rabbit bus station

Etymology

Mr. Ricardo L. Paras, the company's general manager, explains that the Company was named Philippine Rabbit in reference to the actual animal because of its speed and agility, not to mention how fast they pro-create. Secondly, the first acquisition of buses by the company then showed that the main body feature of the bus was shaped like the Rabbit. The Company was known then as PHILIPPINE RABBIT BUS COMPANY in 1948 until it was incorporated in August 1958 as the PHILIPPINE RABBIT BUS LINES, INCORPORATED or simply PRBL.

History

Philippine Rabbit was founded on August 28, 1946 with a trip to Divisoria, Manila with a stopover in San Fernando, Pampanga. It was then named Philippine Rabbit Bus Company. In 1952, they acquired front-engined International Harvester buses which operated from Manila to Moncada, Camiling, Victoria, La Paz, Concepcion and Tarlac City. The company was incorporated on August 28, 1957 with the business name Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines, Incorporated.

Philippine Rabbit was continuously expanding in growth and operation in the 1960s. It has acquired interest in distributing Mitsubishi brand of motor vehicle engines and spare parts in the country. On March 25, 1963, the PRBL incorporators organized the Bupar Motors Corporation as the exclusive distributor of Mitsubishi Fuso engines and spare parts in the country. The Corporation also included a bus body building plant and a tire recapping facility.

Philippine Rabbit was the first to introduce First Class bus accommodations in Western Luzon with the two-seater MAN White Rabbits, and the more innovative Philippine Rabbit Mini-Bus for short distance or local passengers. These PRBL Mini-buses were called the PRBL Mosquito Fleet.

In 1977 PRBL opened its Rabbitours Division in its Caloocan Terminal on 2nd Avenue to handle chartered trips for domestic tours. With the tax incentives the government gives to Tourism oriented companies, PRBL started acquiring air-conditioned buses. In the start of the 1980s, the Company started modernizing its bus fleet with air-conditioned buses servicing the routes to Baguio City, Balanga, Bataan, Laoag, Ilocos Norte, and Tarlac.

In January 1992, PRBL started its bus fleet rehabilitation. They announced the acquisition of 150 brand new air conditioned buses for its 3-year modernization program to meet the demands for safe and convenient travel on air conditioned buses. Twenty Mitsubishi De Luxe (2001 series) were commissioned in 1992; another thirty Nissan Diesel (Aero Bus Series) in 1993; Fifty Nissan Diesel (Flexi Series) in 1994, and another fifty Nissan Diesel (Euro Bus Series 3015) in 1995.

Labor dispute and losses

On April 5, 2004, the company's employees went on strike and demanded for the prompt payment of salaries and benefits, their 13th Month Pay, Retirement benefits, and service incentive pays, including the immediate updating of employees' SSS premium contributions and collected SSS Salary loan deductions. On April 7, 2004, DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas issued a Return-to-Work Order with PRBL Management promising to settle its obligations to the employees. The Company defaulted.

In order to regain losses after the strike, the company had to sell many of its assets, including bus units, franchises, and real properties. Its area of coverage was narrowed, since the company had to give up in favor of other players some of its routes.

Today

The company resumed full operations in 2005 fielding its legacy platforms, the NDPC Euro and the newly refurbished 8500s DMMC units, together with a handful of surviving ordinary units. However its trips were limited as manifested by the closure and the sale of its Balintawak terminal which catered to most of its trips to Northern Luzon leaving only its Avenida Rizal terminal as its only terminal in Metro Manila.

It is also during this period that the management tried to supplant its aging fleet by acquiring surplus Korean buses.

The company faced another challenge when the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in 2014, mandated that all PUBs that are 15 years of age shall be phased out imposing heavy penalties for violations. This decision severely affected PRBL's operations since the bulk of its fleet were acquired from 1994-1998. This forced the management to phased out its old units and stop its trips to Baguio, Abra, and Alaminos. Trips to Alaminos andCamiling is later resumed in 2015.

Brand new units started to arrive in 2014 with the arrival of 5 new bus units and followed by several others. Re-fleeting is still on-going and is expected to continue.

On October 21, 2016 Philippine Rabbit acquired 4 new Daewoo BV115 buses from Santarosa Motors and is planning to use it to return to its Avenida - Baguio route.

Another batch of HIGER BUS (fleet numbers;1109-1133) composed of twelve (12) were delivered at PRBL early in December 2016. These buses bore superficial resemblance to the 2nd batch of Higer (V91 series) but are powered by more powerful engines (YCGL310-30). They are intended to ply Manila-Baguio route alongside the Daewoo BV115 they acquired earlier.