The country’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system could start servicing passengers in Cebu by the first quarter of 2018, a lawmaker said Sunday.
This, after the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) allotted P1.3 billion for the construction of related infrastructure for the project next year.
Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas said the funding for the BRT, which was included in the proposed P3-trillion national budget for 2016, recently approved by the House of Representatives, will be used to put up facilities for the BRT’s operations, including the exclusive bus lanes and stations.
“Part of the money will also be used to pay for the costs of right of way acquisition and detailed engineering design, among others,” Gullas said in a statement.
The BRT project in Cebu is patterned after tested BRT models in Seoul, South Korea and Guangzhou, China.
It will involve 176 buses running one after the other via 16 kilometers of segregated lanes from Barangay Bulacao Pardo in Cebu City’s south district to Barangay Talamban in the north district, with a link to the South Road Properties.
Each bus will run at an average speed of 26 kilometers per hour and drop by 33 stations, with a bus arriving at each station every five minutes. The private sector will operate the buses.
Once fully operational, the BRT is projected to serve some 330,000 passengers every day.
For 2016, DOTC also allotted an initial P208 million next year for BRT systems in Metro Manila— along EDSA and Quezon Avenue.
Source: Xianne Arcangel | ALG, GMA News
