Baguio to revive shelved HoHo for tourists to ease weekend Carmageddon

July 10, 2022 Metro BLISTT

Baguio City is eyeing to revive the Hop-On, Hop-Off (HoHo) bus system mainly for tourists coming to the Vacation Capital with their private vehicles in tow causing horrendous traffic jams here during weekends.
Engr. Aloysius Mapalo, Supervising Administrative Officer of the City Tourism Office said, tourists heading to the city with their private cars will be asked to park their vehicles at the Baguio Convention Center grounds and take the HoHo bus to go around.
The city tourism office targets to implement the HoHo bus by July 15 and every weekend thereafter (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Data from the portal visita.baguio.gov.ph shows an average of 50,000 to 60,000 weekly tourist arrivals where bulk or about 40,000 arrive from Friday to Sunday.
“In just one day, we may have an accumulated 30,000 tourists in a day during peak season and this will cause traffic all over the city, particularly along Botanical Garden and Mines View Park,”
Mapalo said.
Botanical Garden is the preferred destination now receives an average of 2,000 daily visitors during weekdays and increases to 5,000 daily during weekends per day; increase even more up to 7,000 daily during holidays and peak season, Mapalo said.
“Supposing half of the daily tourist arrival have their cars, we can estimate more than 800 vehicles passing Botanical Garden during weekdays and even more during weekends so there is a lot of traffic in the area,” Mapalo explained, prompting him to propose the revival of the HoHo bus.
The HoHo bus will follow a self-directed tour circuit taking off from the Baguio Convention Center to the Botanical Garden as the first stop; the Mansion House as the second stop; the Mines View Park will be the third stop and then back to Wright Park as fourth stop via Gibraltar Road to decongest traffic and finally exits via South Drive to the drop off point at Governor Pack Road where tourists may walk around the central business district as well as visit Burnham Park.
The Hoho bus tour will also allow tourists to maximize their day by being able to visit five major parks in the city in one circuit with at least five to 10 minutes of travel time from one stop to the next stop.
Waiting time per stop will be 15 to 20 minutes to allow tourists to enjoy the parks or they may stay longer and still be able to catch the next bus in 30 minutes.
There are only two HoHo busses to operate with 30 minutes interval time per trip. The first trip leaves Baguio Convention Center at 8:30 in the morning while the last trip is scheduled at 6:20 in the afternoon departing from Wright Park to Gov. Pack Road drop-off point.
In a day, there will be seven trips which can serve 290 tourists a day and be able to reduce at least 50 cars from clogging the streets in one circuit.
“The idea is ‘park and ride’ to decongest private vehicles parking in our streets and parks,” the tourism officer said. For now, the HoHo bus will be free but tourists will have to pay the parking fee at the Baguio Convention Center. The parking fee will be used for the operation and maintenance of the bus and the allowance of the driver as well as the tour guide.
Mapalo said they will adopt the city’s existing parking rate at the Baguio Convention Center as follows: P35 for light vehicles for the first two hours plus P10 for every additional hour of parking; P40 for mini excursion buses plus P15 per additional hour; P400 regular tourist buses and P15 per additional hour; and, P10 for motorcycles with P5 additional per hour of parking. Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong directed the Tourism Office and the city’s Traffic and Transportation Management Division of the City Engineering Office to consult the public transport sector before the implementation of the HoHo tourism bus to iron out concerns and issues earlier raised which prompted him to shelve the project before the May polls.
Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN