EDITORIAL - Ok, what of the BRT minuses?

Everybody is agog over a bus rapid transport system being planned for Cebu, which President Aquino has recently approved. And why not? Anything that promises to help solve Cebu's worsening traffic woes will surely get everybody excited.

The BRT system was first introduced in South America, in the city of Curitiba in Brazil. Since that introduction in 1974, it has inspired similar systems in several other cities in the world, mostly in but not limited to Latin American countries.

The system, as the name suggests, employs buses instead of trains but works like a subway, except that it is at street level. All other amenities for rails, however, apply -- such as dedicated lanes, off-board fare collection, platform boarding, etc.

On paper, it is a plausible alternative to that other proposal, a light rail system which has since been shelved, as well as a workable complement to existing modes of public transport like regular public buses, jeepneys and taxis.

Unfortunately, what has got everybody all gung-ho about the BRT are its obviously plus points. So sold has everybody become to the idea that nobody seems to give a whet about whether there are any negative aspects to the plan that, if they need to be brought out at all, must be brought out now.

And so, let us play a little Devil's advocacy against the plan. For instance, when you Google BRT, the pictures that appear of the cities that employ the system invariably show dedicated BRT lanes embedded in very wide streets, some with as many as eight to 10 lanes in them.

No such streets exist in Cebu City, whose widest -- Osmeña Boulevard -- only has six. Take away two lanes to dedicate to BRT and its adjuncts and you are left with four. Yet, there's no guaranteeing a smooth BRT ride. You know na -- jeepneys can always expropriate the dedicated BRT lanes when no one's looking.

The road layout in Cebu City is not in grids but of meandering patterns (anecdotes say to ensure they pass by the properties of a certain privileged family) that, in a growing city, is a traffic jam waiting to happen. One stalled car somewhere, and the chain reaction can send an entire district to a standstill.

Filipinos have a love affair with cars, cars being a status symbol by itself. Some people may not have their own homes (and the garages or other parking space to go with them) but they can have at least one car or two, which they park on roadsides, constricting flow. The resulting jams can radiate and cripple the network.