Tuesday, October 17, 2006 Cabaero: Cebu bus plan By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
The Mandaue City Government is resurrecting the plan to use buses for a mass transport system in the city. The system is called the bus rapid transit (BRT), a term Mayor Thadeo Ouano first pushed in a business meeting last August.
The plan is intended to address road congestion and the need for commuters to have alternative means of transportation.
Except that buses are meant for long-distance travel and so the BRT, if it pushes through, must run beyond Mandaue City; and commuters familiar with the mostly narrow roads of Metro Cebu can easily picture the traffic once buses hog the lanes. Then, there would also be the concern about the impact of the bus system on the income of taxi and jeepney operators.
Mandaue officials would have to work with mayors and legislative bodies of Cebu and those of other cities in the metropolitan area should the bus plan go beyond one city. This might not be an easy thing to do, not with the ruffled relations among some mayors.
Before the plan gets all messed up, the Mandaue City Government needs to be clear on what it wants and what the project would entail.
The Asian Development Bank, supports the BRT system as part of its environmental advocacy. Other international organizations with projects that support clean air and the protection of the environment reportedly back the BRT too. The biggies among them are the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development.
As early as 2004, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña called mayors of the other cities, except Talisay City, to a World Bank briefing on the same BRT concept. There were hopes expressed after that meeting for funding for a feasibility study on such a plan for Metro Cebu.
Based on earlier reports on the BRT as presented by Ouano and other local officials to media, these buses are not only harmless or less harmful to the environment, they are also cost-efficient, do not need much capital to establish unlike a light rail transit system, and do not require much time to implement because a BRT lane can be segregated from existing road lanes. They said the BRT is being adopted in other countries.
With Mandaue City resurrecting the plan, it could be a good occasion to expound on the BRT concept, the requirements for such a system, the cooperation needed of local governments, and what it means to the commuting public and to operators of jeepneys and taxis.
With not enough information, it would be difficult to judge if a metropolitan bus system here would be a step forward.
