AS CAGAYAN de Oro gears to become a metropolitan city and its population grows, the City Council is exploring the establishment of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
The council adopted a resolution on Monday, September 9, pushing for the conduct of a feasibility study to address projected traffic flow problems.
City Councilor Edgar Cabanlas said a BRT from Balingasag to Laguindingan towns in Misamis Oriental will greatly address the need for mobility and prevent a monster traffic scenario similar to that in Metro Manila.
Cabanlas, in his resolution, proposed to request the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Department of Tourism to conduct the study at no cost to the City Government.
"We will request these institutions for a feasibility study at no cost for Cagayan de Oro. It's just a matter of requesting these agencies. At this early, we have to plan, Davao is planning it, and Cebu will be having it by 2020," he said.
"Let us take advantage of this grant that these institutions are offering, it might be ambitious but at least we should start somewhere," he said.
According to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), BRT is a high-quality bus-based transit system that delivers fast, comfortable, and cost-effective services at metro-level capacities. It does this through the provision of dedicated lanes, with busways and iconic stations typically aligned to the center of the road, off-board fare collection, and fast and frequent operations.
Because BRT contains features similar to a light rail or metro system, it is much more reliable, convenient and faster than regular bus services. With the right features, BRT is able to avoid the causes of delay that typically slow regular bus services, like being stuck in traffic and queuing to pay on board, the ITDP said.