DAVAO CITY – Additional buses are ready to be deployed for commuters stranded during peak hours due to the insufficient number of public utility jeepneys (PUJs) here.

Dionisio Abude, head of the City Transportation and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO), said that operators have been given special permits under the Peak Hours Augmentation Bus Service (PHABS) to deploy more buses if the need arises.

Abude said that an inspection and monitoring team has been assigned to places where passengers normally converge to wait for jeepneys to determine the need for additional buses.

He said special permits were issued to allow bus companies to service the routes going to and from the central business district.

These bus companies are the Golden Valley Bus Line servicing the Lasang-Tionko Route; Land Car Inc. for Toril-Roxas; and Davao Metro Shuttle for Calinan-Roxas and Catalunan Grande-Roxas.

The Dumper party-list also deployed buses under its “Libreng Sakay for Students” program servicing Toril-Roxas, Calinan-Roxas, and Panacan Roxas.

The party-list group said 21 buses have been deployed to address growing concerns of passengers over insufficiency of PUJs during peak hours from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.

Abude said the PHABS implemented in 2019 has been re-operationalized last month as the city government noted more passengers getting stranded at peak hours.

“If there are still passengers who get stranded around 7 or 8 o’clock, the bus operators will deploy because that’s our agreement,” he said.

He claimed that based on their monitoring, no stranding of passengers has been reported since the deployment of buses was made under PHABS.