Monday, April 16, 2007 Uptown off-limits, for good, to 13-C jeepneys
TO decongest Gen. Maxilom and Gorordo Aves., the Cebu City Council has made permanent the experimental rerouting that kept public utility jeepneys (PUJs) going to the Talamban area away from those roads.
Instead of turning left for Gorordo Ave. at the M.J. Cuenco Ave.-Gen. Maxilom extension junction, PUJs with route number 13-C will proceed further and turn left for Mactan Road before proceeding to the Ayala Mall area.
They can then proceed to Leyte Loop, Samar Loop and Mindanao Ave. before turning right for Gov. Cuenco Ave.
Earlier, the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) board recommended for the Cebu City Council to make permanent the rerouting that was implemented in the Talamban route starting August last year.
In its traffic assessment report, Citom said that “traffic generators,” or business centers and educational establishments, necessitated the adjustment of the 13-C route.
Malls and numerous schools have mushroomed in Talamban and the Banilad areas in the past few years.
“The emergence of these traffic generators...has created a new traveling pattern of the commuters, thereby changes/amendments in the law regulating the operation of PUJs should be made to address the demand of transportation,” Citom said.
Changes
Before the experimental rerouting, Citom noted that from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., from the New Imus Road to Archbishop Reyes Ave., the average speed was 21.7 kilometers per hour (kph).
It increased to 24.01 kph after the rerouting’s implementation.
In the afternoon, the average speed improved from 19.98 kph to 23.51 kph.
From the M.J. Cuenco junction to the Mactan Road junction through Gen. Maxilom, however, travel in the morning was slower, from 16.82 to 15.94 kph; and from 15.72 to 12.52 kph in the afternoon.
Citom said this is due to the increased number of vehicles given the 13C franchise.
The route already has a total of 410 authorized units, or an average of three vehicles passing a street in a one-minute span.
The defective signal light in the M.J. Cuenco and Mactan Road junction also contributed, especially with the absence of a traffic enforcer to direct traffic flow, particularly for left- turning vehicles.
Citom, though, said the problem is “insignificant since it will only occur in a short period of time and can be addressed at with traffic personnel directing the flow of traffic.”
With that observation, the City Council approved City Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera’s measure that amended Appendix A of City Ordinance 1320, or the “Ordinance Regulating the Operation of Public Utility Jeepneys Within the City of Cebu.” (RHM)
