Sunday, June 29, 2008 Proposed transit system may get a boost: Villarete
THE Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo’s (Nadsu) strike tomorrow will only serve to discredit the reliability of the current transport system and make the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) more appealing to the public, a Cebu City Government urban planner said yesterday.
Engineer Nigel Paul Villarete, City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) chief, said a transport strike will inconvenience the most the “poor and the masses who could not afford to buy their own cars.”
With majority of the people taking the brunt of the protest action, they will naturally long for a better way to reach their workplaces and then return to their homes.
“Unwittingly, this will serve as an advocacy for the planned BRT, and will convince more and more people that they deserve a change from an oppressive system—where their daily transportation to work and home is not that dependable,” he said.
Villarete said the ever-present possibility of public utility jeepney (PUJ) drivers keeping off the streets and paralyzing the daily lives of students, workers and other commuters will spur the need for another system.
“They (drivers) may have their own reasons, (and) these reasons may indeed have valid points, but whatever they may be and no matter how valid a reason they may raise, the fact remains that an entire city will be held hostage, and that the public will be inconvenienced,” he said.
The disruption, he said, will only serve to convince the public to adopt a “more dependable, more reliable, more convenient, faster and enjoyable system.”
Early this year, World Bank traffic experts visited Cebu City to study the possibility of implementing a BRT system in the Banilad-Talamban area.
After that “initial exposure,” the experts were scheduled to return for the study, surveys and consultations.
According to a USAID study, the BRT was proven effective in Curitiba, Brazil and in Quito, Ecuador. At least 15 Asian cities have adopted the system.
It works like the train system, but uses buses instead of train coaches and bus lanes instead of train tracks. It is also cheaper to operate.
The buses are stairless and passengers pay at the specially designed bus stops.
As in Curitiba, there will be lanes that will be dedicated solely for the buses. The Curitiba BRT uses up to five bi-articulate buses connected by bolts.
The system, Villarete said, “will not be affected by any increase in fuel costs and will continue to run regardless of the world oil price levels.”
“When we shift to the BRT, transport strikes will be a thing of the past; or at least, they will be just news we hear on the radio or watch in our televisions as they continue to haunt Manila and the rest of the country,” he said. (RHM)
