Davao City chosen as recipient of study for public transport

DAVAO City was chosen as the only recipient in the Philippines of a study funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on public transportation system, said City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) chief Roberto Alabado on Friday.

Alabado said the ADB funded about $1 million for the project, which will run from March to December 2013.

He said a team of consultants from Halcrow, a UK-based consultancy firm, was contracted by the ADB to conduct a study and data gathering on the public transportation system of the city.

The foreign team will be working along with the Filipino transport consultants until the completion of the study, most probably this year.

The outcome of the study is expected to provide strategic options to attain efficiency in public transportation system in Davao City by identifying first the system being used.

"Even the National Government knows that an efficient public transport system is needed if Davao City is to grow sustainably," said Alabado, adding that an efficient transport system is part of the sustainable development.

The city was singled out for this ADB-funded project because of its active participation in its past programs, especially the Sustainable Urban Transport for Davao City (Sutrad) back in 2011.

"Naging matunog na ang Davao City sa iba't-ibang development agencies, especially ADB. So, every time there's a project to the Philippines, the city is immediately considered as a recipient city," Alabado said.

The Sutrad provided the city with preliminary study and came up with several recommendations: use of electronic tricycles, re-routing of jeepneys and establishment of the commuters' loading and unloading base.

Also part of the ADB-funded project is the capacity building of the city's traffic personnel of the Traffic Management Center (TMC) and some police makers who will undergo a short-term training course.

The Halcrow team is drafting an inception report to be submitted to ADB sometime next month, where it will contain its analysis based on the survey and interviews with the commuters, drivers and operators in the city.

After which, only then that the training course will begin, according to Alabado.

He also said the traffic personnel in the city are opportune to undergo such training because usually trainings are usually done in Manila.

"The training course will help the traffic personnel to really improve their capability on public transportation. That's a big contribution of the study," Alabado said.

The CPDO head said he is also considering the establishment of dedicated lanes for Bus Rapid Transit.

"It works more like a train but you’re just using the bus," he said.

Alabado added that ADB-funded project is also assessing the possibility of having a BRT, a new cost-efficient means of public transportation.

"This is the new trend among the developing countries and cities," he said of the BRT.

Earlier, the ADB also singled out Davao along with Vientiane in Lao People’s Democratic Republic and one other city in Indonesia for its bicycle-sharing scheme test; with the prospect of replicating this in other areas in the Asia and the Pacific.