The city government of Davao will be establishing a driving school for drivers of the High Priority Bus System (HPBS).
City Planning and Development Office head Ivan Chin Cortez said the city is now looking for a property for the said driving school.
“The school is for the drivers. Lahi na biya ni nga bus and we need a steady supply of skilled drivers for the multiple shifts,” he said.
There are four types of buses for HBPS that require a certain level of certification for a driver to be allowed to take and service bus routes.
“When the study (HPBS) was conducted, supply of required skills for bus drivers was lacking, which is not enough to service the entire bus system,” he said.
The city government of Davao has identified candidate sites to be used as the central, mid-east bus terminals for HPBS namely Bunawan (depot with terminal), Sto. Nino (depot only), Sasa Port (depot only), Toril (depot with terminal), Calinan (depot with terminal and driving school), and Buhangin (depot only) as areas for the depot.
Three locations will have terminals for the inter-provincial buses to interchange with the city buses
“At least two options per site, per need so that we have a spare site if option 1 is unwilling. The idea is once the commuters reached the provincial terminals they will switch buses of HPBS. We will need a lot of bus stops all throughout the bus network system,” he added.
Cortez said timelines for the completion and implementation are dependent on the land acquisition wherein the designs of the depot can only be finalized.
“If sites are finalized we have to meet the land owners who are not willing to sell also. Our target for land purchase is 2021,” he said.
He added that the acquisition of sites for the depots, terminals, and bus stops is spearheaded by the Department of Transportation (DoTr).
The construction of the bus terminals will be funded from a P650-million city government allocation.
