Bus trips in Davao City ‘normalizing’

THE Davao City Overland Transport Terminal (Dcott) is now gradually normalizing as the bus terminal’s operation now caters to 300 bus trips per day.

Dcott Head Aisa Usop said in a radio interview 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 of bus trips.

This is a huge increase from the estimated 30 bus trips approved by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)-Davao Region when the inter-regional bus trips resumed in June this year.

Back then, only one bus trip per route was allowed.

Usop said the number of buses and their scheduled trips have increased since the city shifted the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

Based on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), travel to one MGCQ area to another is allowed provided that health screenings for arriving passengers must be implemented.

Usop also noted the demand for more bus trips had stabilized as compared to June, when bus trips were limited.

“Kung i-compare nimo sauna nga mag inilugay ang mga pasahero sa pagsakay sa bus, karon ang mga bus controller or canvassers na ang nag-inilugay og mga pasahero tungod ubay-ubay na ang mga bus nga gabiyahe,” she said.

(If you compare it, before it’s the passengers who are rushing to get in the buses, now it’s different. The bus controllers or canvassers are now the ones scouting for passengers since there was an increase of buses and bus trips.)

Currently, Usop said Dcott caters to an estimated 7,500 passengers daily. This is a huge difference from the average 35,000 to 40,000 passengers from 650 to 700 buses prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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.

She added the terminal is complying with minimum health protocols, where passengers will not be allowed entry to the terminal and buses if they are not wearing face masks and face shields. They must also sanitize their hands upon entering.

Meanwhile, the only inter-regional bus trip that is allowed at the moment is going to Caraga and there is no word yet from LTFRB if other regions will soon open its borders, Usop said.