March 29, 2024

The city is eyeing the use of buses to ferry visitors around Baguio.
City Tourism Officer Aloysius Mapalo said the city plans to use the two buses earlier donated to the city government by local transportation firms as Hop-on, Hop-off tourist buses or “Ho-Hos”.
Mapalo said the plan to turn the buses into Ho-ho ferries to serve tourists was hatched before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“Even now that we are in the midst of the pandemic, the city is looking into implementing the project little by little,” he said.
He said the city will issue tickets to tourists on each of their visit that will grant them unlimited rides in the Ho-Ho buses.
With the Baguio Convention Center as the staging and starting point, the planned Ho-Ho circuit will have the Botanical Garden as its first stop; the Mansion, second; Mines View Park, third; Wright Park and its environs, fourth; then at the Gov. Pack Road where a walking tour of the central business district including Session Road, the Cathedral, and Burnham Park will ensue.
The buses will then return to the Baguio Convention Center to pick a new batch of visitors.
Each stop will last around 20 minutes where tourists can choose to stay longer if they want more time to roam around the area and wait for the next Ho-Ho bus. 
The entire circuit is estimated to last about an hour and 30 minutes.
Mapalo said the project concept proposed before the pandemic was P100 per unlimited ticket for tourists with a discounted rate of P80 for senior citizens and students.
A test run will be conducted before the project can be fully implemented probably before the city is able to allow a lot more tourists to visit in the coming weeks or months, he added.
Meantime, maintenance procedures of the two buses will start to make sure these are in the best running condition and will be decorated to look like tourist buses, Mapalo said. – Gaby B. Keith