BUSES, monorail and cable cars, oh my.
You betcha I’m excited.
If things go as planned, and I’m keeping all my fingers crossed, these modes of transportation will soon be a reality here in our very own backyard.
I mean, if you listen to Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade, who, by the way, was in town during the weekend to discuss the proposed Metro Cebu Integrated Intermodal Transportation System with local officials, you’d think these things were already set in stone.
Because, let’s admit it, it’s about time Cebu got a modern mass transportation system. Of any kind.
But let me just take my head out of the clouds for a sec here so I can get my bearings straight.
Tugade, during the meeting, did reiterate the need to fast-track the procurement and construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which, as we all know, has been delayed for over five years.
So he’s well aware that time moves at a different pace in this archipelago that we call our home.
I mean, where else will you find concreting one lane of road that stretches a mere 200 meters take more than five months?
Still, the guy’s optimism is infectious and I, for one, don’t mind catching it. In fact, he only whetted my appetite with his announcement that an interim bus service would start operating from Fuente Osmena in Cebu City to Talisay next month.
Of course, he was quick to clarify that it’s not the BRT. Not yet, anyway.
“As I said, this is the interim bus transport system. Meaning to say, we will follow the partial... “
Hush, Secretary. You had me at “as.”
I should give credit where credit’s due, although maybe I should wait for these projects to materialize before I do that.
After all, didn’t someone in the last presidential election promise to get rid of the drug menace in, how many months was that? And look where we are.
Oh, I shouldn’t dwell on such things. At least, the matter is being addressed. That’s what’s important. Of course, the scope of the problem might have been underestimated from the onset, which explains the protracted war.
I just hope the DOTr doesn’t find itself in a similar situation. Really.
I mean, buses, monorail and cable cars. Oh my!