CEBU City-bound motorists coming from the south can, if they’re pressed for time, get off the bus in the City of Naga, head to its port and hop on board mv Nicole Express, the metro’s very first “sea jeepney.”
Operated by MCE Shipping Lines, the sea jeepney, also known as MyBoat, will sail to Pier 1 in Cebu City.
Travel time is expected to take half an hour. It may be quicker once management identifies all the shallow portions off the coast of Minglanilla and Talisay City that the vessel can avoid. Normally, the trip on land takes an hour longer.
So yes, it will definitely be a time-saver, especially for students and workers who don’t want to be late for school or work. However, it is pricey at P60 per passenger, although students, senior citizens and persons with disability automatically get a 20 percent discount.
Not that bad, really.
Mv Nicole Express should give buses, minibuses and multicabs a run for their money.
I still can’t believe that traffic in the metro has gotten so bad that it now takes an hour and a half to get to Naga even when you use the Cebu South Coastal Road.
I know that’s a worst-case scenario but still, travel time hovers above an hour, which is dreadful when you consider that 25 years ago, the same trip took around 30 minutes. If it went beyond that people had a conniption.
Back then, the road was narrower, but there were fewer cars. There were fewer houses, too, on either side of the highway. In fact, you could still see the sea when you reached Naga. Now, the view is obscured by houses and buildings that line the shore.
Naga is only 20 kilometers from downtown Cebu City.
In the scheme of things, it’s not that far. Yet, it seems like getting there takes forever, which, by the way, is how I felt last Wednesday night when I found myself stuck in traffic at the Fuente Osmeña.
I was in a van with my parents and my sister and her husband who were visiting. We were on our way to Busay. Mango Ave. was not a choice. Our driver knew that. So he suggested we take Osmeña Blvd. and take a long cut at Oppra instead.
When I saw the cars try to squeeze in the three-lane corridor that spans the rotunda and the Capitol building, I knew we would be in for a long wait. However, I didn’t expect it to be that long, long. After all, it’s only a 750-meter stretch with four intersections, three traffic lights and one traffic enforcer at the end of the street.
It was almost 6 p.m. I nodded off. When I opened my eyes, 30 minutes had passed and we were in front of the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital. Suddenly, I found myself wishing for an alternative mode of transport.
How about cable cars?