Solution to traffic?: Inter-modal transport eyed in Metro Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) has announced yesterday that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) plans to put all proposed modes of mass transport in Cebu into one integrated system.

In a press release, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino said the Integrated Inter-Modal Transport System (ITS) will soon be established in Metro Cebu.

He said this initiative is intended to "synchronize" all available mass transport projects that aim to address the worsening traffic condition here.

The IITS includes five key components: (1) point-to-point (P2P) bus system; (2) monorail in Lapu-Lapu City; (3) Bus Rapid Transit on three-lane roads (BRT); (4) Light Rail Transit (LRT); and (5) Intelligent Transportation System.

These components were earlier tagged by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade as the "basket of solutions" in responding to the mass transport needs to the people of Metro Cebu.

Dino said he has been discussing the traffic crisis here with Tugade in a series of meetings in the past three months. On June 25, they decided to roll the initiative out.

He said the IITS is an offshoot of the roadside inspection of the 23-kilometer route of the BRT last month that Tugade led.

Officials of the World Bank and the regional offices of the National Economic and Development Authority, Land Transportation Office, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board joined Tugade in inspecting the actual alignment of the BRT.

The first component, the P2P bus system, is considered the fastest to implement.  Dino said there are already established systems that DOTr has seen potential in that will complement with other mass transit systems. What is needed for now, he said, is to add more bus units.

The other component is the planned monorail system that will operate around Lapu-Lapu City that will help boost Cebu’s competency of its tourism industry.

Dino said the monorail system will soon become Mactan Island’s main transport system that will connect the Mactan Cebu International Airport to the different hotels and resorts.

Moreover, under the IITS initiative, Tugade reportedly discussed during the series of meetings that the BRT will not be allowed to traverse the narrow roads but should be plying roads that have three lanes.

Meanwhile, Tugade has offered the LRT system as a major component of the IITS.

The LRT is eyed to cater to inter-city passengers and to operate in two lines: from Carcar City to Danao City and from Mandaue City to MCIA.

To note, a Singaporean-Chinese and Filipino consortium submitted a proposal to construct a US$3 billion LRT system.

Dino, however, said the construction of LRT will take more years to build than the other components.

Significantly, Dino said all components under the IITS, being a metro-wide mass transit program, is planned to converge at a “common station,” which is what Tugade wants for Cebu.  This means passengers will be using an inter-link terminal where connecting transit systems of all components are co-located.

“We are studying two places where we can put up the IITS Common Station,” Dino said.

The two are at a coastal district and in a city center.

“IITS will encourage interoperability and interconnectivity of land, air, and sea transportation,” Dino added.

Tugade has said that the IITS is created after several considerations on the road profile of Metro Cebu. There has been a fast-growing need of an efficient mass transport system in bigger, inter-connected cities such as Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay and the neighboring municipalities.

For its timeline, the IITS program is mapped out to have partial operability in one to two years from now.

Aside from these big plans, the DOTr is also planning to construct flared intersections, road widening, walkalators, bike lanes and intelligent signaling system as other solutions to traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.

“This is a one-in-a-million opportunity for the Cebuanos to embrace. We are thankful that DOTr Sec. Tugade burns his midnight candle in tracing out what Cebu really need for its mass transportation and traffic problem and I fully support him. The DOTr and OPAV will work closely so that this will happen in the next two years,” Dino said. (FREEMAN)