DOTr to implement integrated transport system in Metro Cebu

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The Department of Transportation (DOTr) plans to implement over the next two years an integrated transportation system (ITS) in Metro Cebu to synchronize various transportation solutions and address the worsening traffic congestion in the metropolis.

In a meeting on June 25, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade and presidential assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino discussed the components of the ITS, which will include a point-to-point (P2P) bus system similar to MyBus, which is already operational in the city. Other components are a monorail in Lapu-Lapu City; the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on three-lane roads; and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines from Carcar to Danao, with an airport line from Mandaue to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

“There is no single solution to address transportation issues. It needs a basket of solutions, that is why we are pursuing the implementation of the Integrated Transportation System in Cebu in the next two years,” Tugade said in a statement.

“The ITS was developed after due consideration of Metro Cebu’s road profile and the fast-growing need of efficient mass transport systems in bigger, inter-connected cities,” he added.

Dino welcomed DOTr’s efforts to address the transport woes in Metro Cebu, noting that the recent opening of MCIA’s passenger terminal is expected to bring in more tourists to Cebu province.

Among the ITS components, Tugade sees the P2P bus system as the fastest to implement.

“There’s already an established system which the DOTr sees its potential to complement with other mass transit systems. All we need to do is to add more units,” he said.

The monorail, meanwhile, will become Mactan Island’s transport system, connecting MCIA to different hotels and resorts in the tourist island.

To cater to inter-city passengers, Tugade offers the LRT system, which will traverse the city of Carcar to Danao City, as the major component of the ITS. A Singaporean-Chinese and Filipino consortium has submitted a proposal to construct a US$3-billion LRT system, with a subway component in Cebu City, an above-ground component from Talisay to Carcar and from Mandaue to Danao, and an airport line from Mandaue to the MCIA complex.

“The LRT will become the main arterial backbone of Cebu’s mass transportation, with other ITS components as feeder lines serving internal peripheries,” Tugade said. He added that the construction of the LRT will extend beyond the first three ITS components, as it will take more years to build than the rest.

Meantime, Dino clarified that the BRT will be allowed only on three-lane roads.

“It was a common agreement that BRT on narrow roads will fail. DOTr has identified the roads with three lanes in both directions where we can allow it to operate, as it will not be effective if we allow them to operate on already congested areas,” he said, adding that the BRT on narrow roads “may cause disaster” to other ITS components and existing transport systems.

The metro-wide mass transit program will converge at a common station, DOTr said. Passengers will be ushered to an inter-link terminal where connecting transit systems of all the components (bus-to-LRT, bus-to-BRT, and BRT-to-LRT) are located. DOTr said it is studying two areas for putting up the common station—one in a coastal district and the other in a city center.

DOTr targets achieving partial operability of the ITS program in the next one and a half to two years.

“Once implemented, Cebu will become beautiful and more livable. The ITS will encourage interoperability and interconnectivity of land, air, and sea transportation,” Tugade said.

Aside from the ITS, the DOTr is also considering the construction of flared intersections, road widening, and intelligence signaling systems as “other basket of solutions” to traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.