LOOK: Davao's P73.3-B Transport Modernization Project With New Eco-Friendly Buses, Terminals
More eco-friendly buses, for one.
(SPOT.ph) Residents of Davao City may soon have more means of transportation once the P73.3-billion Davao Public Transport Modernization Project (DPTMP)— aimed at improving the city's public bus transport system with eco-friendly options—is completed as early as 2025, the target year for full operations to commence.
More than 800,000 passengers daily in the city of 1.78 million is seen to benefit from this project, which may start partial operations in the fourth quarter of 2024 and full operations by 2025.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on July 1 signed the funding agreement worth U.S. $1.014 billion (about P56 billion), or 60% of the total funding, with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, the former Davao city mayor, witnessing the event.
The remaining 40% will come from the DOTr budget, while the remaining P1.5 billion will come from the city government, Inquirer reported.
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What we know so far about the Davao City's Public Transport Modernization Project
The project is eyed to increase the presence of high-quality public utility bus in the city using electric and Euro-5 standard diesel vehicles. Nearly 400 modern electric buses are said to be used here once the project is fully operational, the DOTr said.
The new public transport system will cover more than 100 kilometers of core routes and over 500 kilometers of feeder routes in the third largest city in the country.
Under the project, three terminals, five depots, one bus driving school and around 1,000 bus stops will be constructed, DOTr said.
An intelligent transport system—including bus location system, automatic fare collection systems, and Wi-Fi connectivity in buses, terminals, and depots—will be used in bus operations, stops will have lighting and shelters to protect from the weather, and select road sections will have designated bus lanes, the ADB said about its largest road-based public transport project in the country.
Through the DPTMP, public transport is seen to ease congestion and car pollution in the city, which has increased over the past decade and reduced travel speed to 10 kilometers per hour, the ADB said.
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