THE government will introduce an interim bus service from Fuente Osmeña to southern Metro Cebu on March 15, 2020 in a bid to help ease traffic congestion while the infrastructure for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is under construction.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, who was in Cebu Saturday, February 22 for a meeting on the proposed Metro Cebu Integrated and Intermodal Transport System (MCIITS), stressed that this is not the BRT yet, but this will provide trunk service until the BRT begins partial operations by December 2021.

The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, in a social media post Saturday, said the timelines for the partial operations of the BRT are as follows: phase 1 from the Cebu South Bus Terminal to Capitol by December 2021; and phase 2 from Bulacao/Talisay to Talamban by March 2022.

During the meeting, Tugade reiterated the need to fast track the procurement and construction of the BRT system, a project that has been delayed for over five years.

Under the proposed MCIITS, the BRT will provide a feeder service to the proposed Cebu Monorail system.

“As a feeder line, BRT buses will travel under a loop system that will serve passengers getting off the Monorail coaches and ferry them to the peripheral destinations,” the DOTr said in a statement.

The detailed engineering design (DED) study for the BRT project is now under review and validation by technical support consultant Egis International.

The proposed P80-billion Cebu Monorail project, on the other hand, has been submitted to the Investment Coordination Committee Technical Board for evaluation.

Tugade led the DOTr team that met with Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino, Egis representatives and the Bus Rapid Transit National Project Management Team on Saturday. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)