Davao transport terminal collection plummeting

REVENUE collection of the Davao City Overland Transport Terminal (Dcott) suffered a 2.63-percent decline in the third quarter of 2012 -- at P5.106 million down from P5.342 million -- it collected for the same period last year.

In a cumulative report, Dcott netted total revenue of P15.209 million from January to September this year, which is quite lower compared to the P15.620 collected for the same period of 2011.

Dcott officer-in-charge Edgardo Calvo said he cannot pinpoint as of now the cause of the decrease as they will have to conduct further study to find out what attributed to the plummeting revenue collection.

Data from Dcott showed among the revenue sources of the agency, collection from buses posted the highest contribution with P9.439 million as of September this year, which is also a slight lower from last year's collection for the same period at P9.530 million.

Revenue collection from the stalls and stands posted the second highest with P2.214 million, which showed a reduction of 5.5 percent from last year's figure of P2.234 million.

Other collection sources of Dcott such as snacks, folding bed rentals, peddlers, and comfort rooms posted P1.182 million in revenue, down by 22.39 percent than P1.523 million in the same period last year. Public utility jeepneys (PUVs) posted the lowest with only P733,000, a decrease of 4.21 percent from last year's P766,000.

Despite the decrease in other revenue sources of Dcott, vans showed a consistent better record performance in terms of revenue contribution, posting a slight increase at P1.639 million or 3.9 percent higher than in the same period a year ago with only P1.578 million.

With the decreasing collection performance, Calvo said it will take time to find out the reason attributable to the decrease. He said they will sit down with the official.

"We're still in the process of knowing why the collection this year went down," he said.

However, Calvo said they are optimistic to meet or surpass the target by the end of the year with the remaining three months of operation.

The total collection from January to September of P15.209 million is already 74.55 percent closer to their target of P20 million for 2012.

Last year, Dcott's revenue collection reached P21.573, which surpassed its target of P20 million by at least 7.868 percent.

The official is expecting better revenue collection for buses, PUJs, and vans starting November to December, as more passengers will be travelling because of the observance of All Souls Day and the Christmas season.

"We need to catch up with the target. We also need to collect what needs to be collected," Calvo said. (ALC)