By Jim Lloyd Dongiapon
Davao City is set to fully implement its new public transport system, the High Priority Bus System (HPBS), by 2024.
Atty. Tristan Dwight Domingo, HPBS Manager and Assistant City Administrator for Administration, stated that Davao City intends to launch HPBS in April 2024, once all of the project’s components have been properly processed.
In preparation for its rollout, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) XI Director Nonito Llanos revealed that the bidding process for the first 500 HPBS units will begin by next year.
The social development program for public utility jeepney (PUJ) drivers and operators, who will be impacted by the implementation of the new transportation system, is currently the agency’s main focus, he continued.
Llanos also said that the HPBS routes have already been identified and completed.
Domingo and Llanos are both hopeful that funding for the project’s remaining components will be approved.
HPBS will replace PUJs as Davao City’s primary public transportation system. As early as 2019, the phase-out of traditional jeepneys had already begun.
The said bus system will have 29 routes divided into four tiers, namely:
MetroDavao (which will form the core services that connect all major commercial centers along the five routes);
DavaoInter (which will run along eight routes connecting the inner urban areas directly to the Davao Central Business District);
DavaoFeeder (which will run along nine routes linking smaller centers and areas of more dispersed populations to the MetroDavao services); and,
DavaoLocal (which will provide a link between the outer rural areas of the city and the main transport system or the integrated terminals).
It will traverse the 137-kilometer core network and 489-kilometer feeder routes in the city.