OTHER localities are now accepting direct bus trips from Davao City, an official from the Davao City Overland Transport Terminal (Dcott) announced on Monday, December 14, 2020.
Dcott head Aisa Usop said in a radio interview that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulator Board-Davao Region (LTFRB-Davao) recently gave a special permit to buses that will be operating from the Davao to General Santos City route.
In previous weeks, Usop said local governments of Ormoc, Tacloban in Leyte, and Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat are now accepting direct trips to and from Davao Region.
She also said these are "one-stop" routes, where passengers will only be picked up from terminal-to-terminal.
This is in addition to the Caraga Region, which opened its border to Davao buses early August this year. Buses from Luzon were allowed to enter the city by land in late September this year.
Other bus routes are operated via "cutting trip" or border-to-border bus trips.
Usop said LTFRB continues to communicate with other local government units (LGUs) in regard to allowing direct bus trips from Davao City.
While the terminal's operation is gradually "normalizing" since bus trips within the region were allowed to resume operations in June under general community quarantine (GCQ), the Dcott official said there is still a huge difference in the number of passengers compared to pre-Covid-19 days.
Dcott previously catered to an estimated 7,500 passengers daily. This is a huge difference from the average 35,000 to 40,000 daily passengers prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The bus terminal's operation currently caters to an average of 300 bus trips per day.
She said the gradual improvements in the terminal's operation had resulted in the increase of bus trips in the entire region. This, aside from the increasing demand for bus trips.
Usop said the drop in the number of passengers complies with the LTFRB order that only 50 percent of the bus's seating capacity must be filled to observe the two-meter physical distancing.
"Medyo nag-menus ug mingaw ato pasahero nga gasakay sato diria sa Dcott (We had noticed a drop in the number of passengers that we cater at the Dcott terminal)," Usop said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
She also said they expect fewer passengers this Holiday season brought about by restrictions imposed by the Davao City Government after placing the city under "restricted LGU," wherein only "essential-purpose" travels will be allowed.
The official also denied rumors that the terminal will be closed from December 24 onwards as the city will be imposed under hard lockdown.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio also denied it in a radio interview, saying that placing the entire city under a lockdown is not the local government’s priority in addressing the Covid-19 situation.