The hop on, hop off (HOHO) bus of the city government is starting to serve its purpose of decreasing the volume of traffic along main thoroughfare in the city during weekends.
From July 15 to 17, a total of 103 tourists rode the bus.
The Baguio Tourism office carries the tagline “Park and ride” for the HOHO bus, encouraging tourists to be part of the solution in decongesting traffic.
The bus operates from Fridays to Sundays starting July 15, with free unlimited rides only for tourists who have Visita tourist pass.
Passengers who have their own vehicles but who want to avail of the mass transportation via the HOHO will have to park at the Baguio Convention Center compound. They will be issued a ticket and may ride on any of the scheduled departure time at designated stops around the circuit. The ticket shall be surrendered when claiming the parked vehicle. Lost passes will be charged P25.
City Tourism Officer Aloysius Mapalo said an average of 50,000 to 60,000 tourists arrive in the city on a weekly basis and about 40,000 arrive from Friday to Sunday.
“Supposing half of the daily tourist arrival 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,” Mapalo said.
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 as the second stop; Mines View Park will be the third stop, Wright Park as fourth stop then exit 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. – Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
