GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/07 November) — It’s all systems go for the trial run here of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) innovative “40-meter train-like bus” dubbed Hybrid Electric Road Train (HERT).
City Councilor Dominador Lagare Jr., chair of the city council’s committee on transportation, said Tuesday they expect the road train to start its test run in major roads here “within th
e week.”
“Everything is all set, especially the route and the trial system, and we’re only waiting for the go-signal from the DOST,” he said in an interview over Brigada News TV.
He said the road train, which arrived here late last month following a six-month test run in Cebu City, will cover a total of 17 stops along the national highway from Barangay Tinagacan to the city fishport complex in Baran
gay Tambler.
It will take off at 4 a.m. in front of the Tinagacan Elementary School and will mainly cater to teachers, fishport and tuna canning workers, he said.
Lagare said the road train will operate four round trips daily, with two in the morning and two in the afternoon.[]
The road train was designed to only carry 240 passengers at one time but he said they estimated that around 1,800 passengers would be accommodated for every trip in the entire route.
Since the HERT is still on trial run, he said the passengers were pre-selected by the DOST and the local government.
The official said they had conducted the pre-registration of passengers in barangays covered by the route.
“The entire test run is subsidized by the DOST so the rides would be free for all passengers,” he said.
Citing the local government agreement with the DOST, Lagare said the road train’s trial period will initially run until Dec.[]
