Golo, John Emerald D.

CE 421B 12/6/17

BSCE- 4 MW 12:00 – 1:30 Engr. Borgonia

Report on the Proposed Bus Rapid Transit in Cebu

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of BRT? Differentiate the BRT systems implemented
to countries like Korea, India and Singapore, for example.

Bus Rapid Transit or the BRT is an urbanized bus transit system which is undoubtedly faster
than other public means of transportation; uses bus to travel on their designated routes just like a train
does. Robin King (2013) emphasized that some recent research shows that this can be really
beneficial to the public since it can reduce millions of hours of spending in jeepneys or other public
utility vehicles, thus having more time of rest from work.

As an example, in Istanbul, Turkey, people can reduce 28 days of travel by simply adapting
to BRT than by just sticking to usual modes of travel. Another one would be in South Korea where
shifting to BRT resulted in an increase of average bus-speed from 10kph to 20kph. Since velocity is
inversely proportional with time, this 10kph increase resulted in a reduced time of travel. As India
realized that as their cities significantly increased in population, increasing or widening roads and
adding flyovers cannot solve their issues of traffic. What they did was they focused on prioritizing
mass rapid transit, they believed that a great solution to their problem was through moving people,
and not focusing on moving vehicles. Studies also showed that BRT’s in India can increase its
volume at very low costs. Thus, making the BRT effective and efficient for them. In Johannesburg,
South Africa, people saved significant amounts of time through BRT. In fact, it is estimated that they
can save roughly 73 million hours from 2007 to 2026 equivalent to 9 million eight-hour workdays.
This gives people the luxury to relax, spend more time with their families and even go on a vacation.

BRT provides nothing but high-quality and customer-friendly public transportation, delivers
people fast to their work and deliver them to other places in a smooth and comfortable way. This
reduces cost of urban mobility and can obviously reduce congestion and vehicular queuing.
Implementations of this project in other countries showed that this is cost-effective and environment
friendly since this reduce the use of individual cars with just one passenger, making it really helpful
to our environment. BRT would help Cebu economically and environmentally in order to promote
sustainable and well-developed transport services.

2. What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of LRT?

The Light-Rail Transit is also another kind of urban public transportation in which it can
accommodate higher capacities than buses but it operates only in their exclusive right of ways
through rails.

Light-rails could probably help reduce traffic congestion and pollution but it is still uncertain
if this is effective in the long run. Obviously, individual workers traveling each with cars impose
significant amount of pollution and congestion, and imposing taxes in purchasing cars such as the
imposed excise tax in purchasing brand new cars would force people to use public transportation
instead. Garrett (2004) stated that research have shown that LRT may be a really effective marginal
reducer of traffic congestion especially during rush hours. LRT would not just give a smooth and safe
ride, it transports higher passenger capacity per lane in an hour under right conditions. This makes
travel easier unless LRTs are very much overcrowded like in Manila where people stand but they
have no choice, this is an unexpected result of the government and they should give utmost priority to
public safety and convenience.
 Studies have also shown that property values near light-rail stations are higher. This could be
a huge step towards economic development. However, building LRTs doesn’t come cheap,
governments spends millions of pesos to cover construction costs and maintenance. Also unlike cars,
light-trains are much more environmentally friendly since they are mostly powered by electricity,
which causes no harm to the environment. But some problems may occur due to short circuits or
grounding which affects the operations of these trains especially during rush hours. Another
disadvantage would be the limited source of power which challenges the operator to look for
alternative sources in order not to delay the operations of the system.

Since light-trains are built with their exclusive pathways, this is beneficial to other road users
and results to fewer jolts for the buses. This would also contribute low or minimal noise both inside
and outside the light-train compared to other transport services, such as old jeepneys which produces
very loud noise.

As per Hamilton (2015), he emphasized more in disadvantages of LRTs. He stated that LRT
systems require large places for turnaround facilities and maintenance shops which is really costly for
the government. He mentioned that these could not help business establishments between rail stations
and is bad for economic development. Unlike buses, which has closer intervals between stops, it is
much better for access to businesses. Cost has always been mainly the problem but LRTs show and
depict that the government is prioritizing on public transport and that they should do their best to give
us convenience and good service.

3. Why is there a need to implement BRT or LRT?

There is a great need to implement BRT or LRT especially here in Cebu because it has been
always a problem to us getting to school or work. We have to wake-up early in order not to be late
just because of heavy traffic. Cebu is very much congested I say, and a good way of reducing this is
through effective public transport. This would really lead to a reduce travel time and in the mean-
time, environment friendly.

Which is probably much appropriate here in Cebu? Some critics of the BRT project here
emphasized that actualization of this could only worsen the present traffic condition since it would
just occupy the same road that the motorists are using. But would this still be the case if car owners
prefer riding the BRT? This will lead to fewer cars running, thus, decongesting our roads. Do we need
both? The answer is uncertain, but the most important thing is that we need a good mass
transportation system. BRT is low on construction cost but expenses tend to run higher in operations
especially during rush hours since transporting more passengers would simply mean fuel costs are
higher and more volatile.

In my opinion, it is much better to have BRTs as of this time, since LRTs would come really
expensive for the local government and building exclusive tracks for train would occupy the sides of
our narrow roads. Even though it is really beneficial in the long-run. I believe it is very impractical as
of now.

Cebu is a fast-developing place and we should welcome a new mass transport system like the
BRT in order have convenience and a good means of transportation to the public.

4. Cite the details of the proposed BRT project for Cebu City. Who were the proponents of the
project (provide rendered pictures of the proposal and describe them)? Who were the antagonists
and why did they oppose the said project? From a proponent’s point of view, explain why BRT is
beneficial to the city.

The BRT Project here in Cebu looks to provide a safe and environment friendly travel among
Cebu commuters. It aims to provide a more efficient travel in and around Cebu City through a
sustainable BRT system. The Cebu BRT Project will establish and implement a BRT system over a
23-kilometer corridor that covers Cebu City’s central business district (CBD), from Bulacao in the
South West and Talamban in the North East. The proposed route will consist 11 km of segregated
busways from Bulacao in southern part of Cebu City to Cebu Business Park along Cebu South Road,
N. Bacalsco Ave, Osmeña Boulevard and N. Escario St, and another 6 km of bus priority at junctions
will allow BRT buses to reach Talamban along Gov. M. Cuenco Ave.

This BRT project has already been proposed by present Mayor Tomas Osmeña way back
1990’s but it was just 2008 when the DOTC began formal planning. They expressed that beneficiaries
of the said project would be pedestrians, public commuters going to work and school, and the
government, which will benefit from improved capacity to the development of Cebu.
 The Service Route of the Cebu BRT Project

The project will also install a modernized traffic management system to avoid congestion and
have a smooth flow of traffic among other vehicles. CTF and IBRD resources have made BRT
possible and will be implemented by the DOTC. Studies show that BRT is also expected to reduce
Carbon Dioxide emission by 115,000 tons per annum by 2020, and 192,000 tons per annum by 2025.

Upon the completion of this project, the Cebu BRT system will roughly thirty stations and
seventy buses stopping at each station every two to five minutes. An estimate of 330,000 passengers
are expected to use the BRT line every day. Jeepneys are still expected as complementary services to
the BRT route.
 On the other hand, the proposed BRT project was also opposed and interfered by some
officials. Nida Cabrera, a consultant of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office,
argued that about more than a thousand trees and some shrubs along the proposed routes will be
affected, which would deal a huge blow to its realization. In addition, of the 2000 trees, a number of
gmelina, mahogany and ipil-ipil trees will have to be cut due to their size and age. The Sanlakas
Partylist and Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya also expressed their disagreement and told the
city not to overlook the trees and the marginalized.

However, the proponents of the BRT give their assurance that the trees will not be cut and
will be handled properly and that they would not violate any environment laws. Cebu City
administrator Nigel Paul Villarete also said in a public hearing that this project will not neglect the
affected trees and that could be the biggest factor in addressing climate change in the city.

5. What are your thoughts on the proposed BRT project? Would you act as an antagonist or a
protagonist for the said proposal? Why?

Even though I am just living near the USC campus, I don’t use public utility jeepneys on a
daily basis. I usually do so on Fridays and weekends, since like most people here in Cebu, I rely on
jeepneys and taxis as means of transportation. Spending most of my time here in Cebu for the past 4
years, I have experienced first hand the growing traffic congestion and pollution, it now takes an hour
or more in going to Colon from Talamban which is just roughly 6 to 7 kilometers. It made me think
and agree to the proposed BRT system here to hopefully solve the growing traffic in the city. I believe
that the BRT could really solve the congestion since it can accommodate a lot of commuters and it
does not affect the flow of traffic unlike jeepneys which stops just almost everywhere. I believe that
BRT could also give us a smooth and safer ride and give convenience to us commuters.

I really do hope that this project would be realized in order to get rid of old public utility
vehicles which contributes harmful effects on our environment and add burden to the public. This
would really lead to a greener and environment-friendly Cebu and I do hope that this would be a great
success for this rapidly growing and developing city.
 Bibliography

Fernandez, R. (2017). BRT Project to Affect more than 2,000 Trees.

Retrieved December 3, 2017

From http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2017/08/11/brt-project-affect-more-
2000-trees-542291

Garrett, T. (2004). The Costs and Benefits of Light Rail

Retrieved December 3, 2017

From https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/central-banker/fall-2004/the-costs-and-
benefits-of-light-rail

Jonson, G., & Tengstrom, E. (Ed.).(2006).

Urban Transport Development: A Complex Issue.

Berlin: Springer.

King, R. (2013). 4 Ways Cities Benefit from Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

Retrieved December 3, 2017,

From http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/4-ways-cities-benefit-bus-rapid-transit-brt

Nikola, N. (2005). How Good is Seoul’s BRT?

Retrieved December 3, 2017,

From https://kojects.com/2013/03/01/how-good-is-seouls-brt/