Baguio City closer to getting monorail, cable car system

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Baguio City may soon have a cable car or monorail system after being picked by the United Nations Development Program and the Department of Transportation as one of the pilot cities for a low carbon urban transport system.

UNDP and DOTr officials had already briefed city officials on the project to provide local governments with technical assistance and linkages with interested private sector partners.

The Baguio local government, which indicated interest in the program, was required to formulate its Local Public Transport Route Plan, which would be the basis for rationalizing the public transport routes in the city and to see what low carbon mass transport system could be put up.

The DOTr had also earlier required all local governments in the country to formulate their own LPTRPs to determine additional routes and additional public utility transport vehicles their areas might need.

The DOTr order was related to the government's public utility vehicle modernization program.

Among the low carbon urban mass transport systems being eyed for the city are a cable car system or a monorail system, or a combination of both.

The UNDP and the DOTr will be commissioning a feasibility study on the appropriate mass transport system for the city by next year.