DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said electric buses will form part of the bus fleet of the High Priority Bus System (HPBS).
"In the coming months, we plan to proceed with the bidding for the other components of the project, including for 1,000 units for the bus fleets that includes at least 300 electric 18-meter buses," Duterte-Carpio said on Thursday, March 17, 2022, during her State of the City Address (Soca).
According to the Pre-Bid Conference Presentation of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the depot for the electric buses is included under Contract Package 4 of the HPBS. Its depot will be in Sasa in the north and St. Nino in the south.
Details of the contract package were targeted to be posted on or before December 2021, but as of March 17, 2022, it has not yet been posted on the DOTr website.
The presentation of DOTr also showed that the electric buses will serve routes mainly in the central business district of the city.
Meanwhile, Duterte-Carpio said the city is working closely with DOTr for the HPBS project.
"We are working with the Department of Transportation and just recently received bids for the contract for civil works for the construction of the terminals and the depots," she said.
Recently, the DOTr called for bids for the procurement of Contract Packages 1, 2, and 3 (design and build contracts of depots, terminals, and on-street improvements and infrastructure) for the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project (DPTMP), also known as the Davao High Priority Bus (HPBS) Project.
The Contract Package 1 includes the Buhangin Depot, Calinan Depot, and Calinan Driving School; Contract Package 2 includes the construction of Toril Depot and Terminal, Bunawan Terminal, and Calinan Terminal; and Contract Package 3 covers civil works along bus routes including bus stops, bus lanes, and other pedestrian improvement works.
According to General Bid Bulletin 7 posted on the DOTr website on January 17, 2022, the deadline for submission of bids for Contract Packages 1, 2, and 3 was on February 10, 2022, while and deadline of submission of written clarification was on January 20, 2022.
The mayor also said that "loan processing for the High Priority Bus System is ongoing."
Based on the Pre-bid Conference Presentation of DOTr, which was uploaded on its website on January 14, 2022, the HPBS aims to provide "an efficient and affordable mode of transport in the city."
The HPBS comprises 29 routes with a total route network of 672 kilometers. It will be serviced by a combination of diesel and electric bus fleets.
Aside from the procurement of buses and bidding of contracts, the city has also made other preparations for the HPBS.
"As a preliminary preparation for the implementation of the HBPS, we rolled out two routes for the interim bus service last year with 20 buses currently serving the riding public," the mayor said.
These routes are the Catalunan Grande route and CP Garcia Highway route.