Some success, complaints in Lahug road sharing experiment

HOLIDAY traffic was light as a few bicycle riders freely moved down Gorordo Avenue yesterday.

Vendors and curious bystanders stared at the new signs.

“Road sharing is good because it keeps bikers free from road hazards. If vehicle drivers just follow the lanes, there’s no problem,” said Felix Almario, a 61-year-old biking enthusiast, who called the 6 a.m. to 12 noon event a good effort to promote safety for bikers.

“Nindot kung magbike tanan para way pollution,” said Tante Cabral, a fellow member of the Cebu Bicycle Club.

(It’s good if everyone uses bicycles so there’s no pollution.)

The new scheme was a scaled-down version of the Road Revolution piloted on June 12, 2011 when the entire Osmeña Boulevard was closed to vehicles and transformed into a park for pedestrians, bikers and skateboarders for the day.

Lahug barangay captain Jovito Taborada said he was satisfied that the experiment was a “success”  in his area despite some minor problems.

Taborada, who observed from a  help desk station at the intersection across JY Square Mall, said the Lahug council will discuss whether to adopt road-sharing every Sunday.

Commuters who were in a hurry looked with surprise at the white painted  marks designating loading and unloading spaces for jeepneys.

Road signs clearly marked walk zones to emphasize the special lane allotted for pedestrians and bicycle riders.

City Integrated Traffic Operation Management chairman Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem  expressed regret over lack of a pre-event  information drive.

“Some pedestrians still passed on the sidewalks, unaware of the road sharing,” he said.

He said organizers including  the Road Revolution and JCI Zugbuana  promised to hold massive information drive.

“They promised in front of the Citom board to hold a press conference to inform the public and said they would  talk to all jeepney organizations to coordinate, pero samok man gihapon,” Jakosalem said.(But it was still messy.)

The event lasted 6 a.m. to 12 noon covering Escario Street, Gorordo Avenue going to J Y Square and down to the Waterfront Hotel.

Four meters of the road was marked out for people walking or riding bikes.  The rest of the road was used by vehicles.

Taborada, who is a biker himself, said it was the right of tax-paying citizens to expect fair treatment on the road regardless of the mode of transportation they choose.

The idea of a Road Revolution was sparked a year ago in Cebu City by envi ronment lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. who said  “those with less in life deserve more in road”.

The campaign stalled over public complaints about the sudden closure of Colon Street and other downtown roads in a followup activity.

Citom said it would not allow traffic to be tied up and commuters inconvenienced that way again.

The idea of devoting 30 percent of the road for pedestrians and non-motorized traffic, 30 percent for vehicles and 30 percent for gardens and open space was submitted to the Cebu City  Council with the hope that it would be passed as an ordinance.   Little progress was seen in legislation but barangay Lahug decide to revive the experiment in this year’s Independence Day with close coordination with the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom).

Barangay tanods and Citom enforcers  were spread out yesterday watching out for traffic congestion.  There were no fires to put out.

Eduardo Duenas, a tanod watching the  station near Waterfront Hotel, said the half-day activity went by with no complaints.

“So far, wala may nasamukan, naa lang uban pasahero nga nabaguhan”, he said. (So far, nobody disturbed the peace.  There were just some passengers who were surprised by the changes.)

Cabral of the Cebu Bicycle Club said he hopes the activity is replicated in other barangays of Cebu City and that is better promoted.

“This is a good activity but few people knew about it. Other bikers didn’t know where to pass.  They weren’t briefed,” he said.

“Communication is the only problem here.  Improve how you dialog with drivers.  But the road markings were fine, no problem at all.”

According to barangay captain Taborada, organizers were so so busy preparing the road signs and coordinating with Citom to ensure smooth traffic flow that they ran out of time to  inform public utility drivers and bikers.

“Daghan ug gi-adjust kay wa pa nainform tanan ang mga drivers ug bikers. Amo giadjust ang traffic kauban ang CITOM,” he said.

It was a good effort but “not sustainable”, said Carlo Cabatingan, a psychology major who observed the scheme from the UP Cebu campus.

“It wasn’t a problem because it was a holiday with less traffic.  But if you implemented this on a regular school day, it would be a big hassle – same size road, same volume of traffic and then reduce the road space to accommodate bicycles.”

“This doesn’t look sustainable unless you widen the roads.” But for Lahug barangay captain Taborada, it’s worth looking into as a regular Sunday affair. /Sean Timothy Salvador, Correspondent with reports from Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao