News update Bus Rapid Transport System eyed for Cebu

CEBU CITY - Outgoing Mayor Cebu City Council said the World Bank is now carefully studying his proposal to start with one model for the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system so that Cebuanos can actually see how the system operates before a decision is made whether or not to go ahead with the full launch of the system. He said they can start with a model route that will go from the Cebu Provincial Capitol to Fuente Osmeña. The route, spanning a kilometer, will be used to test the viability of the BRT and to determine if it could be extended to other areas. The one-kilometer model BRT route will cost $7 million and the city is willing to apply for a WB loan to finance the project. "I'm not forcing it (BRT) down your throats, but if you ask me, I'm convinced that the people will like it," Osmeña said. Government officials in Cebu are actually in dispute as to what type of mass transport system will be implemented in Cebu. There are a number of government officials who are actually leaning towards the adoption of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) System for the metropolis, but Osmeña is insisting that the BRT is the best transport system for the city. The Cebu City Council has already given its support to the BRT as the city's mass transport system. Whether it is a LRT or a BRT system that is finally implemented as a mass transport system for Cebu, tourism stakeholders here are urging authorities to consider tourism points in the metropolis to be included in the system's routes. Airport, sea ports, and terminals must be served by the mass transport system so tourists will have easy and secure access to metropolitan Cebu, said Dr. Robert Lim Joseph, who heads the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS). "The mass transport system must pass by the airport where the bulk of Cebu's tourists come in, to give them clean, quick, and secured access to Cebu," said Joseph, who stressed that tourism stakeholders here prefer the BRT due to its flexibility in changing routes and its cheaper cost to the city government.
Joint Operation of Light Rail Transit or Diesel Multiple Unit Vechiles with Railroads (Transit Cooperative Research Program, TCRP Report 52)Light Rail Transit on the West Coast