The best of Mindanao just aren’t enough yet to be Davao’s bus service of choice.
Two of Mindanao’s best bus companies, Bachelor Express Inc., and Davao Metro Shuttle Corporation, yet again failed to qualify in the second round of franchise application for Davao City’s interim bus project or the High Priority Bus System (HPBS).
The regional office of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board 11 (LTFRB 11) scheduled the second round of selection of operators last August 20, 2020, for the same two applicants: Bachelor Express, which applied for the Toril to downtown route, and Metro Shuttle, which applied for Catalunan Grande to downtown route.
Bachelor Express and Metro Shuttle were disqualified in the first round of the selection held last July 17, 2020.
“Sa second round of evaluation dalawang applicants pa rin, ang Bachelor and Metro Shuttle, but they again failed. We are again disqualifying them for lacking some requirements like availability of the units,” said Armand Dioso, regional director of LTFRB 11, in a phone interview.
Dioso said LTFRB is now scheduling the third round of selection process of operators on September 11, 2020.
“We will find out if the bus companies will refile for the third round of application. Baka may new applicants din po kung sakali,” he said.
Dioso said if a bus company passed in the third round of selection, LTFRB will make a report and inform the city government of Davao in preparation for the implementation of HBPS.
The interim bus service is part of the city government of Davao’s HPBS project, which aims to deploy around 1,000 units and replaces 7,000 public utility jeepneys in 29 routes around the city.
Meanwhile, the first batch of the Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) drivers and operators who are beneficiaries of the Davao City’s modernization of the public transport project, has completed the two-day Basic Business Management training conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The two-day training conducted on August 17 and 18, 2020, was part of the Livelihood Restoration Program, one of the social compensation packages offered by the Davao City government to PUJ drivers and operators who will be affected by the implementation of HPBS.
The first batch of the training catered 37 participants who are drivers and operators and their beneficiaries from Catalunan Grande, Toril, and Calinan routes. These are the routes identified to be the pilot areas of the first phase of HPBS.
The HPBS Social Compensation Committee expects more than 1,300 jeepney drivers and operators to avail of the DTI social package.
Under the HPBS Social Compensation Packages, the driver/operator can choose three out of five packages offered such as educational assistance, skills training, and cash-for-work assistance programs from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Department of Health (DOH).
