A second look at the BRT

Proponents of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Cebu City cheered when President Benigno Aquino III finally gave it the green light in his State of the Nation Address (SONA). An idea that saw first light in the 1990s finally got serious attention. Despite arguments from other Cebuano legislators to pursue a light railway transit (LRT) system instead, the BRT is seen as a better, more environment-friendly, cost-sensible mass transport system to address traffic which has gotten worse over the years. The scheme, if done right, would replace small-capacity jeepneys with larger buses traveling along dedicated lanes. Passengers would fall in line in elevated terminals, then step on to buses whose floor height matched the stopover. The LRT and MRT are massive, overburdened systems that Metro Manila can keep. Cebu can learn what not to do just looking at the trains in the capital which are heavily subsidized. What’s not clear are vital details of the BRT project and its P10.5 billion cost. A new wrinkle emerged after urban planners who have been closely watching the BRT project and attending briefings of the proponents, renewed their questions about the choice of bus routes. Their observations, raised in a letter of the Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC) to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, underscore the need for citizens to be vigilant and ensure that the project is executed right. How can the BRT route, which runs through Osmeña Boulevard and Fuente Osmeña on to Escario Street, and on to Talamban, be efficient when it doesn’t pass through densely populated areas, they asked. Who decided that course in the first place? It seems that the question is coming late in the game. The BRT was almost scrapped from the President’s agenda following his disappointment over the mayor’s fixed position against flyovers. When the route was first questioned two years ago, a foreign consultant was candid enough to say the BRT’s original champion Tomas Osmeña was instrumental in keeping the route inside Cebu City. It even passes through three flyovers, an obvious giveaway that the plan was conceived during Osmena’s term, whose ally Rep. Raul del Mar, envisions a network of flyovers in the city. There are objections worth looking into – that the route would create chokepoints of traffic, spoil the vista of historic Osmena Boulevard and affect one third of Fuente Osmena’s roads, aside from require removing more than 2,000 trees. An alternative route passing through Imus and MJ Cuenco Avenue was proposed by the MLC, proving the gruop doesn’t just criticize, it offers a well-studied option. But is there time to change project details at this stage when the national government is about to tap a World Bank loan for the project? 
source:  Cebu Daily News