ELECTRIC passenger vehicles will soon ply the streets of Danao City in northern Cebu.
The Danao City Government through its City Transportation and Mobility Board (CTMB) introduced a unit of the Electronic Public Transport that will be provided by the Global Electric Transport (GET) Philippines on Saturday morning, Dec. 30, 2023.
The unit then went around identified stops along national and coastal roads.
The City Government will provide “libreng sakay,” or free ride, from Barangay Maslog in the south to Barangay Dunggoan in the north and back.
The northbound route has stopovers in Masdan Maslog, Mitsumi Sabang, CTU (Cebu Technical University) Sabang, Looc Costañera, Boardwalk, Sands. Taytay Shell, Libon Guinsay, Guinsay Padua and Dunggoan boundary.
The southbound route has stopovers in Dunggoan Republic, Dunggoan Gym, Guinsay Padua, Ronoven Guinsay, Taytay, DT Durano, Fountain, Quindad, Looc Gym, CTU Sabang, Sabang Elementary, Mitsumi Sabang, Maslog Plaza, and Pagutlan Maslog.
The CTMB studied the viability of an electric public utility vehicle as an alternative transportation system in the city, while reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
GET offers fully electric vehicles with fast-charging lithium-ion batteries, making it more environmentally friendly as it does not consume gasoline as fuel. The e-vehicle can ferry 30 passengers at a time.
It has a wheelchair ramp for use by persons with disability passengers.
It also allows cashless payments through a mobile application for seamless and accurate transaction and payment.
The City Government also pushed for point-to-point stops, allowing a smooth loading and unloading of passengers over a designated layover area.
It also pushing for a smaller electric vehicle to ply inner barangay roads.
It was in July 2022, when Mayor Thomas “Mix” Durano met with the Cebu team of GET Philippines to plan the introduction of 10 electric buses with a price of P4.2 million per unit.
In 2024, the City Government is pushing for two e-vehicles to traverse the city with more to come in the coming years.