A HIGH-RANKING Davao City official said the city is planning to have a Panabo City-Davao City route in the High Priority Bus System (HPBS) project.
City Planning and Development Office head Ivan Cortez said during the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. 5th General Membership Meeting virtual presser on Friday morning, May 28, that they are currently coordinating with the Panabo City government on the proposed creation of a station in their city.
"We are currently in talks with Panabo LGU to get their position on the plan to include a Panabo link and station in the Metro Davao bus," Cortez said.
The official did not further elaborate on the proposal.
HPBS is the Davao City government's proposed public transport system that aims to improve the city's looming transportation system.
Cortez said HPBS is a public transport system that combines the capacity, reliability, and speed of a metro line with the flexibility, lower cost, and simplicity of a bus system.
He said consultants of the Department of Transportation are at the final stages of the detailed design for the bus network,
Acquisition of the bus depot, terminals, and station are also ongoing, the official added.
The HPBS project involves the delivery of a modern bus system for the city, wherein interconnected bus services will be prioritized within the 137-kilometer core network and feeder routes composed of 489-kilometer.
The city recently launched the first two routes of the Interim Bus System (IBS) Project in February and March this year.
The IBS is the first phase of the HPBS, which is a part of the Transport Roadmap of the City Government of Davao.
The city said the purpose of the roadmap is to support the improvement of transportation so that it prioritizes modes according to their economic, environmental, and community sustainability.
HPBS Manager and Assistant City Administrator for Administration lawyer Tristan Dwight Domingo said in a recent report that the bus project is expected to be fully operational in 2023.