Traffic office, lights system for BRT project

It’s still two months away before the feasibility study on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is finished.

But this early the Cebu City government is setting up a special office to monitor and regulate the proposed multi-billion BRT project.

Along with a special office is the installation of a new traffic system, part of the US $185 million World Bank funding for traffic adjustment plans for the BRT project, the Cebu City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (Citom) said.

“There would be a new office communication center for the BRT. The BRT will not cost Citom an additional budget. Included in the BRT cost is the new traffic light system which is already a package,” Citom chairman Sylvan Jakosalem said.

The BRT system which Cebu City Hall hopes to operate by 2015 would consist of  240 buses and 14 stations from barangays Bulacao to Talamban and is expected to be funded by a World Bank loan.

Jakosalem said the final set-up and detailed explanation on the special office of traffic control and communications to be under Citom “will be moved, once its (feasibility study) is done.”

Citom executive director Rafael Yap said an “Area Traffic Control System” will be installed especially for the BRT system.

He said there will be a “paradigm shift in the office” once the BRT system and the special office is operational.

“We asked the consultants to prepare a seminar for Citom to help prepare for the implementation and they have agreed,” Yap said.

Jakosalem said one of their current problems is the irregular connections of traffic signals.

“The problem is not the power, but the connectivity of the main frame in the office (especially in dealing with traffic in major thoroughfares),” he said.

Jakosalem said they had raised their problems to their communications  service provider Globe Telecom but these have yet to be resolved.

Though the BRT will minimize involvement of traffic enforcers, Jakosalem said they will focus on areas outside the BRT phase 1 route.

New employees may be hired for the special office of traffic control and communication.

Phase 1 of the feasibility study of the proposed BRT services will cover the following routes: Bulacao to Talamban; Bulacao to Asiatown I.T. Park; Bulacao to Ayala; and Bulacao to South Road Properties (SRP).

“What we want is a complete facility,” said Jakosalem.

Citom will also prioritize jeepney drivers who maintained a “clean record” in their office to work as bus drivers or staff in bus terminals and stations.

“We will need drivers for the buses; drivers with clean record will be prioritized for BRT employment,” Jakosalem said, adding that they keep records on drivers who frequently violated traffic rules.

The recurring problem on data connectivity  between some of Citom’s traffic central mainframe “due to bandwidth and bad connection” has been existing “for two years already,” said Citom officials.

Citom gave Globe last week a 30 day notice to discontinue their service for about 5 to 7 years. “We have no other choice but to discontinue their services,” said Jakosalem.

Yap said part of BRT study includes a review of the city’s existing infrastructure and the problems on connectivity in the traffic system.

Jakosalem said the Citom is tasked to maintain the traffic lights system.

He said they’ve already prepared for the new BRT scheme that will be operating three years from now.  /Tweeny M. Malinao, Correspondent