Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas agrees that Metro Cebu needs a mass transport system.
Roxas who was in Cebu over the weekend, however said resources and demand for a mass transit system will have to be considered in deciding what will best address the transporation problem of the second biggest metropolis of the country.
There are currently two mass transport systems proposed in Metro Cebu, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the Light Railway Transit (LRT).
The BRT has been championed by former Cebu south district representative Tomas Osmeña, while the LRT is being proposed by former Cebu 1st district representative Eduardo Gullas.
Roxas said: “LRT and BRT are different types of technologies, and they also address different situations.”
He said an LRT project is costlier and would need a higher volume of passengers per day to be viable compared to the BRT.
The LRT in Metro Cebu to be viable, according to Roxas, may need at least 500,000 passengers per day. As of 2010, Cebu City has a population of 2.6 million, while the whole province is pegged at 4.1 million..
This population is concentrated in the Metro Cebu area which covers Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Talisay, Naga, Carcar and Danao cities, and the towns of Liloan, Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Minglanilla and San Fernando.
The LRT being proposed by Gullas has an estimated cost of $470 million, while the BRT, which has already undergone pre-feasibility study last year is estimated to cost $185 million.
Roxas said BRT and LRT are not comparable. “It is not about one is better than the other. It is all about what is the specific need of the people,” he said.
He compared the situation to a tool box that contains different types of tools for a specific purpose.
“It must be decided well so that the money will be spent appropriately and the technology will be used where it actually fits the needs of the people,” Roxas said.
The first phase of the BRT covers 16 stations from barangay Bulacao through downtown Cebu City, up to the Capitol and end in the Cebu Business Park.
Suceeding phases would extend the BRT to Talamban, then to Mandaue and cross to the Mactan Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City; and from Talisay to Mandaue traversing the coastal area.
The implementation of the project which was proposed under the Public-Private Partnership program was however not approved by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III who said, it needs further study.
The World Bank and government of France expressed an interest in funding the project.
The first phase of the proposed LRT will traverse Talisay, Cebu and Mandaue cities.
Suceeding phases for the proposed LRT will go south to as far as Dalaguete town, passing through Minglanilla, Naga and Carcar cities, San Fernando and Sibonga.
With Osmeña and Gullas losing in their respective mayoralty bids in the May 13 elections, pursuing the mass transport system project will need new champions. /Michelle Joy L. Padayhag, Correspondent