Council gives go signal for SM bus route MOA

CEBU, Philippines -  The Cebu City Council has authorized Mayor Michael Rama to enter and sign a memorandum of agreement with a company that will overlook the construction, operation, and maintenance of stations of the High Quality Public Transport System.

In an approved resolution penned by City Councilor Nestor Archival, Premier Southern Corporation (PSC) will develop the stations of HQPTS that will traverse through Talisay City and Cebu City.

Archival said the HQPTS is essential as the SM City Seaside at the South Road Properties opens by the last quarter of the year.

“Ang next ani nga move is, the biggest action is coming from SM. We already approved the MOA, so they can now build the station already and to order the buses. Once the stations and buses are there, permits will be approved, franchises will be approved, we can enjoy this kind of transportation,” he said.

Archival, chairman of the council’s Committee on Transportation, said the committee has targeted for the HQPTS to be operational by December.

He said the committee will be closely coordinating with Rama’s legal team to examine and process the documents for the quick development.

Sought for comment, Cebu-Bus Rapid Transit Czar Rafael Yap said the HQPTS project will be a “powerful proof of concept for the CEBU-BRT project that will be operational by 2018 yet.

“We look forward to the launch of the SM HQPTS in order to demonstrate to Cebuanos good public transportation systems that are safe, comfortable and efficient,” he said.

The City Council has endorsed its resolution for the establishment of developmental routes for the HQPTS buses.

In his resolution, Archival said the Department of Transportation and Communications agreed to open the developmental routes for the implementation of HQPTS: Talisay to Mambaling; Talisay to Northern Bus Terminal; North Bus Terminal to Mambaling; and Talisay to Mactan Cebu International Airport via SRP.

With this, the City Council approved the construction of stations along the developmental routes of HQPTS in: SRP Coastal (Cita de Mari-II Corso); SRP Coastal (Cita de Mari-residential); Natalio Bacalso Avenue near Cebu Institute of Technology–University; Natalio Bacalso Avenue across CIT-U; Inside SM Seaside at SRP; Inside SM City Cebu at North Reclamation Area; side of Malacañang Sa Sugbo; and the side of Compania Maritima.

The target completion of the buses is set in October, as stated in the MOA.

There will be 77 buses that will be distributed among the routes.

Under the MOA, the city government will work with DOTC, Cebu Transportation Office, and the Cebu-BRT Implementing Unit for the advance funding of DOTC on the implementation of the BRT traffic signalization upgrade and installation also for the use of the HQPTS route.

For the PSC, it has been asked to coordinate with CCTO and Cebu-BRT implementing unit on the requirements to ensure bus priority will be in place. —/ATO (FREEMAN)