Photo from Cebu City BRT Facebook page photo album.
Complex urban transport problems warrant a continuous search for solutions. The need for mobility is a given in today’s cities where commute trips tend to become longer as a result of urban sprawl and the growing mismatch between residential and employment locations which result in more trips made in terms of volume and distance. With a growing middle class whose tendency is to acquire and use private cars as the main mode of travel and the existence of low-quality public transport services, traffic congestion worsens with its attendant economic and environmental externalities. As a result, the dignity of travel, which the author defines as the ability of people to travel using safe, reliable, convenient, and affordable means without being judged by others, is lacking in many cities.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is fast becoming an important public transport option for developed and developing cities. Its cost effectiveness, rail-competitive passenger capacity, shorter construction time, possibility to absorb some of the existing public transport workers, and its potential to effect public transport reform are among the BRT’s strengths.
Others are its complementarities with existing public transport systems, environmental benefits, and inherent versatility and flexibility which render it as a significant and viable mass transit option for today’s cities. Cebu City will be trailblazing the BRT by having the first such system.
What BRT is
BRT or Bus Rapid Transit is a bus-based mass transit system that delivers fast, comfortable, and cost-effective urban mobility. Through the provision of exclusive right-of-way lanes and excellence in customer service, BRT essentially emulates the performance and amenity characteristics of a modern rail-based system but at a fraction of the cost.
It has features that are typical of high-quality mass transit systems—exclusive right-of-way lanes, efficient boarding and alighting of passengers, pre-board fare collection and fare verification, comfortable and safe stations where the high-quality buses are only allowed to stop, a user-friendly information system, GPS for vehicle location and management, competitively bid concessions for bus operations, clean vehicle technologies, and excellence in marketing and customer service. Establishing a BRT system also creates opportunities in instituting meaningful public transport reform since existing public transport services usually have to be modified to synergize with BRT as a complementary mode such as feeders.
Warrants of BRT in the Philippines
Cities in developing countries such as the Philippines face the consequent challenges of urban transport that go along with development. These challenges or externalities are traffic congestion, air pollution, rising transport costs, road safety, and other issues.
The recent JICA Roadmap for Mega Manila study estimates the daily cost of traffic congestion in Mega Manila (Metro Manila plus adjoining areas) at 2.5 billion pesos. Air quality also deteriorates as a result of burned fuel which is aggravated by traffic congestion. Transport costs are erratic as shown by fluctuating fuel prices.
In addition, road safety is a constant issue especially for public transport vehicles whose drivers are wont to behave recklessly in order to maximize their take-home pay. The current business model of road-based urban public transport is one that has been around since time immemorial—that which pegs operator and driver income based on the number of passengers carried. Hence, drivers are always tempted to do anything to maximize their ridership, sometimes resulting in disastrous results.
Road-based public transport in the Philippines is in the hands of private operators who are guided by their own compartmentalized perspective of market demand and supply and fundamentally driven by their profit motive as investors in the industry. Consequently, public transport provision is highly fragmented and there is practically no semblance of full systems operation and management, “systems’ referring to the whole public transport system. As a result, there is erratic, inefficient, even unsafe provision of public transport, rendering captive passengers no choice but to take the low-quality services and the choice passengers the propensity to use their private cars. A high-quality and systematically organized and managed public transport system is therefore warranted where operators will be paid based on the volume and quality of service provided as specified in service contracts and not based on the number of passengers carried as has been the usual practice.
Photo by Integrated Transport Planning Ltd, via Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cebu_BRT_Potential_Network.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Cebu_BRT_Potential_Network.jpg
The Cebu City BRT
The Cebu BRT project is the first approved BRT project in the country. It is a project of the national government, using its own funds and a World Bank loan, spearheaded by the DOTC with the support of the DPWH other departments and the local government of Cebu City. It will open in 2017.
TransCebu ( which is how the project is currently branded) is a mass transit system that will run between Barangay Bulacao in the south and Barangay Talamban in the north with a major passenger interchange terminal at Ayala Center. The southern segment (between Bulacao and Ayala Center) will have segregated infrastructure while the northern segment (between Ayala Center and Talamban) will have BRT buses running in mixed traffic but aided by priority signals at junctions. The system will also serve the emerging central business district of South Road Properties or SRP. The project is considered as the first step in what will later evolve into a network that will serve not just Cebu City but also the surrounding cities of what could be considered Metro Cebu. A link to the Mactan Cebu International Airport is part of the future network.
The project also includes the following features:
• A segregated busway between Bulacao and Ayala Center
• Stations and terminals along the segregated busway route
• A depot for the garaging of buses designated to operate as BRT services
• An Area Traffic Control (ATC) System to facilitate priority run times within the corridor and give city wide benefits of improved traffic flow
• An open service plan that ensures that while infrastructure is limited to between Bulacao and Ayala, BRT services will operate beyond this that limit. In the case of Ayala Mall to Talamban bus passage will be facilitated by bus priority measures where required and where achievable within the confines of the roadway.
• Traffic management measures to improve traffic flow outside of the corridor that are seen to complement the BRT and maximize its impact
• Parking management measures that will similarly complement BRT and improve traffic flow
• Interchange improvements to offer enhancement to the level of service received by all public transport passengers irrespective of whether they use BRT or not
• Urban planning improvements consisting of public realm enhancements and enhanced integration of transport and land use.
The system is planned to serve a daily ridership of 330,000 passengers at opening year. Based on an understanding of people’s travel patterns, there are eight (8) route services that will minimize passengers’ need to transfer.
Managing PUJ sector impacts
Jeepneys will continue to play an important role within the future public transport network. The diagram below shows how some jeepney services will act as ‘feeders’ to the BRT. This will significantly enhance people’s travel opportunities and experiences.
Some jeepneys will be displaced. It is estimated that approximately 1,300 jeepneys will be affected. A companion study to the Feasibility Study has been undertaken after extensive discussions with the jeepney industry to understand how individuals and groups might be motivated to be involved in the delivery of BRT. A BRT operator, or operators, trained and capable of offering the required service levels, will be required.. There is much international experience in the engagement of existing, informal, operators becoming active in the BRT operation.
Environmental and social benefits
The operation of the BRT is expected to have beneficial effects on the overall physical and social environment. BRT will allow faster and more efficient mass public travel and improved traffic flow. This should lead to improved productivity and clear economic gains for the city. Relieving traffic congestion and the potential reduction in private car use because of the availability of an attractive alternative will eventually improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. People will be able to travel safely, conveniently, efficiently, and without the stigma of using public transport. BRT aims to give people the dignity of travel they deserve.
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Dr. Cresencio Montalbo is an associate professor at the School of Urban and Regional Planning and a faculty fellow at the National Center for Transportation Studies, Univesity of the Philippines. Email him at cmontalbojr@gmail.com.
