Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 6) — The local government of Baguio City will be reviving its “Hop On, Hop Off” (HoHo) buses for tourists with private vehicles starting July 15. They will be available every weekend to help decongest traffic in the city.
According to the local government, an average of 50,000 to 60,000 tourists visit the city weekly with about 40,000 arriving from Friday to Sunday.
The city tourism office added that an accumulated 30,000 tourists a day cause traffic congestion all over the city, particularly along two of its main tourist attractions, the Botanical Garden and the Mines View Park.
“Supposing half of the daily tourist arrival[s] have their own cars, we can estimate more than 800 vehicles passing Botanical Garden during weekdays and even more during weekends, so really there is a lot of traffic in the area,” Aloysius Mapalo, supervising administrative officer of the city tourism office, said in a press release on Wednesday.
With the HoHo bus initiative, the tourism officer said, “The idea is ‘park and ride’ to decongest private vehicles parking in our streets and parks.”
Only two HoHo buses will be in operation, the local government said, with 30 minutes interval time per trip. It added that the first trip leaves the Baguio Convention Center at 8:30 a.m. while the last trip is at 6:20 p.m. departing from Wright Park to the Gov. Pack Road dropoff point.
“In a day, there will be seven trips which can serve 290 tourists in a day and be able to reduce at least 50 cars from clogging the streets in one circuit,” the local government noted.
Tourists who will avail of the HoHo bus tour only need to pay for the parking fee of their vehicles at the Baguio Convention Center. This will be used for the operation and maintenance of the buses, as well as the allowances of drivers and tour guides.
