DAVAO City's High-Priority Bus System (HPBS) project implementation will have to wait until next year but the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) said that they already identified the five routes for the project.

“I am not optimistic that it will happen by December of 2019,” Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said during a press conference after State of the City Address (Soca) on Tuesday, October 2, referring to the implementation of the P3.64 billion HPBS project.

“Kung mapatigayon ang HPBS, suportado nato na. n fact, nag-identify naman gani ta ug mga ruta ug mga bus stops, mao na atong gipaningkamutan diri sa CTTMO (We support the HPBS plan of the city government. In fact, we already identified the routes and bus stops),” CTTMO head, Dionisio Abude, said in a phone interview with SunStar Davao.

He also said that there are five routes for the bus system, namely, Catalunan Grande to Ma-a via Diversion Road; second route, from Mintal, to Bangkal drop-off point, to SM City Davao drop-off point along Quimpo Boulevard, to San Pedro St. drop-off point, to Bankerohan, to Matina, and then back to Mintal; third route, from Cabantian, to Buhangin, and to Agdao via Cabaguio; fourth route, from Ma-a to Buhangin via Diversion Road; and fifth route, from Toril to Ulas drop-off point, to Matina Crossing drop-off point, to Matina Aplaya, to SM City Davao, to Matina Crossing, and then back to Toril.

“The HPBS will not only put new and modern city buses on the road. It will also pave the way for future road infrastructure developments that will not only focus on merely building roads," Duterte-Carpio said.