The Baguio City Government is eyeing to revive the Hop On, Hop Off (HoHo) bus starting July 15, 2022 to decongest traffic in the city, the Public Information Office of Baguio announced last July 6.
The HoHo bus will be mainly offered every Friday, Saturday and Sunday (weekends) to tourists who are coming to the Summer Capital using their private cars.
Tourists arriving in the city with private cars will be asked to park their vehicles at the Baguio Convention Center grounds and ride the HoHo bus to tour around.
According to Aloysius Mapalo, supervising administrative officer of the city tourism office, horrendous traffic congestion in the city caused by visitors with private cars prompted him to propose the revival of the HoHo bus.
“In just one day, we may have an accumulated 30,000 tourists in a day during peak season and this will really cause traffic all over the city particularly along Botanical Garden and Mines View Park,” Mapalo said.
Data from the visita.baguio.gov.ph webpage suggest an average of 50,000 to 60,000 weekly tourist visits, with the majority (approximately 40,000) arriving from Friday to Sunday.
The Botanical Garden, being a favorite attraction, attracts an average of 2,000 daily visits during the week, 5,000 daily during weekends, and up to 7,000 daily during holidays and peak season, Mapalo added.
How it works
The HoHo bus will follow a self-directed tour circuit taking off from the Baguio Convention Center.
Rides free of charge are only offered to tourists who have authorized VISITA QTP or QR-coded Tourist Pass. They will also have to park their cars in designated parking areas at the Baguio Convention Center and pay a parking fee.
The parking rate at the designated parking areas will be 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
- P10 for motorcycles with P5 additional per hour of parking.
From the Baguio Convention Center, the bus will depart and head to the Botanical Garden, its first stop.
The second stop will be the Mansion House; followed by the Mines View Park; and the fourth stop will be Wright Park via Gibraltar Road to decongest traffic before exiting via South Drive to the drop-off point at Governor Pack Road, where tourists can walk around the central business district and visit Burnham Park.
The HoHo bus tour will help tourists to maximize their day by allowing them to see five main parks in the city in one circuit with at least a five to ten-minute journey time from one stop to the next.
The waiting time for each stop will be 15 to 20 minutes but if the tourists want to stay longer, they can catch the next HoHo bus in 30 minutes.
Each passenger will get a bus pass which shall be surrendered when claiming back their vehicle parked at the Baguio Convention Center. A P25 fee will be imposed for every lost bus pass.
The first trip will depart from Baguio Convention Center at 8:30 a.m. and the last will leave at 4:30 p.m. There will be a total of seven bust trips a day.