Tuesday, September 23, 2008 BRT study to cover Metro Cebu
OFFICIALS of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) intend to conduct a Metro Cebu-wide data gathering and analysis on the traffic situation instead of just focusing on Cebu City in relation to the proposed new mass transport system.
Cebu City Planning and Development Coordinator Paul Villarete said the agency wanted to get a better understanding of Metro Cebu traffic characteristics as the operation of the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will include areas from Minglanilla town to Lapu-Lapu City.
Also, the Cebu City Government, with the help of the DOTC, intends to bring to Cebu the former mayor of Bogota in Colombia, Enrique Espinosa, who successfully adopted the BRT there.
Espinosa is visiting Bangkok, Thailand in November, and Cebu City will have him make a side trip here.
“It is already 90 percent sure,” said Villarete.
Bogota was said to have reduced accident fatalities by 93 percent and pollutants by 40 percent, and shortened travel time by 32 percent after implementing the BRT system.
New system
The BRT 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 stations in the middle of the road accessible through pedestrian lanes or overhead walkways.
Unit providers are paid per kilometer traveled, with the amount agreed between them and the government, so that it does not matter to the drivers whether they have passengers or not for every trip.
Also, Villarete said that in a meeting with DOTC officials last week, they made it clear that the City Government does not want a mere pre-feasibility study but a full-blown feasibility study along with the data gathering and analysis, which he projected will start in November and will be finished in six to eight months.
Villarete said a BRT pre-feasibility study was already done in Manila, but it is unclear yet when it would be implemented there.
Cebu City does not want the same fate, and asked that the feasibility study be done now because it is already clear that the city is pursuing it.
Consultation
Villarete said that while the terms of agreement for the study will be between the city and whomever the DOTC will enter into a contract with, the City Government is constantly being consulted with.
He said the City, after holding orientation seminars to different agencies and the academe, among others, intends to consult the grassroots, particularly those affected by
the BRT.
He said that with the help of City Administrator Bimbo Fernandez and the City Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, the City will make everyone understand what the BRT is about and what it can offer to them.
“We want them to give everybody a full understanding of what we are looking at. We want everyone to understand what it is and how will it affect them,” Villarete said. (RHM)
