Philippines First Bus Rapid Transit System For Cebu

[Dave Hounddriver]

How much is enough?  Just a little bit more:

 

CEBU - A bus system for Cebu City won’t be enough to serve all commuters and an urban rail system should still be developed, a study team has recommended.

 

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2014/10/01/study-brt-can-t-accommodate-all-commuters-cebu-368558

[Jollygoodfellow]

They will simply add to the congestion and since they will stop frequently, traffic jams will abound.

 

 

Seems you and others do not know what a rapid transport system is. Stopping frequently is only at stations with timetables. This is not like a suburban route where a bus just travels around till a passenger is waiting on the corner like you would see in most western countries. Dave mentioned about turning traffic lights off, this system is like a railway, would you turn off the lights for that? Here in Brisbane some parts of the network are underground, some are like on a private freeway connecting to other stations and others have dedicated bus only sections of the road that the public can not access. As for jeepneys and taxis their job is to be at the dedicated parking areas at the stations to ferry passengers to other locations. 

My guess is that places like Ayala will have a bus station.

 

Some info of a BRT, http://bic.asn.au/information-for-moving-people/bus-rapid-transit

 

 

[MikeB]

Dave, I read this story this morning, it makes good headlines since the BRT is big national news but the fact that the Sun Star is the only paper covering the "story" when all the Manila papers have jumped on every bit of news about it makes me think that maybe this Japanese agency has a vested interest in recommending an urban rail system instead of BRT. I couldn't make sense of the numbers in the article but this stands out

Another BRT limitation cited by the study was that the 70-86-kilometer route from Danao City to Carcar City is too long for the BRT to serve.

The Cebu City BRT project is supposed to connect Bulacao and Talamban, how does Danao and Carcar enter into it? Or are they referring to another BRT? Why don't they just extend it south to Davao and north to Manila via Bicol? That way they'd have about 80% of the country connected, although they would have to rename the project from Cebu City BRT I guess.

[Americano]

 

They will simply add to the congestion and since they will stop frequently, traffic jams will abound.

 

 

Seems you and others do not know what a rapid transport system is. Stopping frequently is only at stations with timetables. This is not like a suburban route where a bus just travels around till a passenger is waiting on the corner like you would see in most western countries. Dave mentioned about turning traffic lights off, this system is like a railway, would you turn off the lights for that? Here in Brisbane some parts of the network are underground, some are like on a private freeway connecting to other stations and others have dedicated bus only sections of the road that the public can not access. As for jeepneys and taxis their job is to be at the dedicated parking areas at the stations to ferry passengers to other locations. 

My guess is that places like Ayala will have a bus station.

 

Some info of a BRT, http://bic.asn.au/information-for-moving-people/bus-rapid-transit

 

Langlands_Park_busway_station (Copy).jpg  bus station.jpg

 

 

"Seems you and others do not know what a rapid transport system is."

 

Probably most of us have traveled on a rapid transport system in other countries.  The problem is the Philippine's way of thinking and doing things is very different from other countries. And, the limited amount of space left on most streets and roads leaves very little room for an additional 2 lanes for a special bus.

 

"Stopping frequently is only at stations with timetables."

 

More bus stations is possible although there are very few in the Philippines.  Most people like to just stand on the side on a road waiting for a bus. Timetables is the big joke.  Whisper to a Filipino, what time is it and then do that with 9 more Filipinos.  At least half of them will not know what time it is and the other half will give you different times.  Trying to run buses on a strict time table in the Philippines would make a good comedy.

 

"This is not like a suburban route where a bus just travels around till a passenger is waiting on the corner like you would see in most western countries."

 

I have traveled many times by bus in the USA but always departed from a bus station and arrived at another bus station.  I have never gotten on a bus at a corner in the USA, but in the Philippines I usually get on the bus on the side of the national highway, not at a bus station until I'm ready to travel back home.  Even then there's no certain time for the bus to leave because it doesn't matter because no one knows what time it is anyway.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Americano

[Americano]

Dave, I read this story this morning, it makes good headlines since the BRT is big national news but the fact that the Sun Star is the only paper covering the "story" when all the Manila papers have jumped on every bit of news about it makes me think that maybe this Japanese agency has a vested interest in recommending an urban rail system instead of BRT. I couldn't make sense of the numbers in the article but this stands out

Another BRT limitation cited by the study was that the 70-86-kilometer route from Danao City to Carcar City is too long for the BRT to serve.

The Cebu City BRT project is supposed to connect Bulacao and Talamban, how does Danao and Carcar enter into it? Or are they referring to another BRT? Why don't they just extend it south to Davao and north to Manila via Bicol? That way they'd have about 80% of the country connected, although they would have to rename the project from Cebu City BRT I guess.

 

"Why don't they just extend it south to Davao and north to Manila via Bicol?"  Duh, buses cannot drive under water.  If you are thinking about boats then that's as slow as a carabao.

[Jollygoodfellow]

 

 

They will simply add to the congestion and since they will stop frequently, traffic jams will abound.

 

 

Seems you and others do not know what a rapid transport system is. Stopping frequently is only at stations with timetables. This is not like a suburban route where a bus just travels around till a passenger is waiting on the corner like you would see in most western countries. Dave mentioned about turning traffic lights off, this system is like a railway, would you turn off the lights for that? Here in Brisbane some parts of the network are underground, some are like on a private freeway connecting to other stations and others have dedicated bus only sections of the road that the public can not access. As for jeepneys and taxis their job is to be at the dedicated parking areas at the stations to ferry passengers to other locations. 

My guess is that places like Ayala will have a bus station.

 

Some info of a BRT, http://bic.asn.au/information-for-moving-people/bus-rapid-transit

 

Langlands_Park_busway_station (Copy).jpg  bus station.jpg

 

 

"Seems you and others do not know what a rapid transport system is."

 

Probably most of us have traveled on a rapid transport system in other countries.  The problem is the Philippine's way of thinking and doing things is very different from other countries. And, the limited amount of space left on most streets and roads leaves very little room for an additional 2 lanes for a special bus.

 

"Stopping frequently is only at stations with timetables."

 

More bus stations is possible although there are very few in the Philippines.  Most people like to just stand on the side on a road waiting for a bus. Timetables is the big joke.  Whisper to a Filipino, what time is it and then do that with 9 more Filipinos.  At least half of them will not know what time it is and the other half will give you different times.  Trying to run buses on a strict time table in the Philippines would make a good comedy.

 

"This is not like a suburban route where a bus just travels around till a passenger is waiting on the corner like you would see in most western countries."

 

I have traveled many times by bus in the USA but always departed from a bus station and arrived at another bus station.  I have never gotten on a bus at a corner in the USA, but in the Philippines I usually get on the bus on the side of the national highway, not at a bus station until I'm ready to travel back home.  Even then there's no certain time for the bus to leave because it doesn't matter because no one knows what time it is anyway.

 

 

Not sure what it is but don't you think things are changing in the Philippines? Is the Philippines the same as it was 20 years ago? Look at major projects going on, The Mactan New Town, the city of Dreams in Manila, Cebu Airport etc. What about the IT parks and infrastructure that goes with it, condos, bars, restaurants.  I don't think its the Philippines that is in a time warp.

 

 

I have traveled many times by bus in the USA but always departed from a bus station and arrived at another bus station.  I have never gotten on a bus at a corner in the USA, but in the Philippines I usually get on the bus on the side of the national highway, not at a bus station until I'm ready to travel back home.  Even then there's no certain time for the bus to leave because it doesn't matter because no one knows what time it is anyway.

 

There you go again, comparing a BRT to long distance travel. Its not for long distance travel its for moving people around the city.

[Dave Hounddriver]

I noticed that this artist's conception of the bus system focuses on the widest street in Cebu:

(Thanks to MikeB for the image)

 

But on the more narrow streets they may be wise to steal only one lane out of the middle of each street and have one street for the north bound bus and another for the south bound bus.  Many of the streets already have a divider in the middle and a good engineer could limit the impact to the traffic to a minimal.  My thoughts are that you would see 3 busses bunched up travelling almost empty and then a 30 minute or longer wait for the next bus.  Its the way they roll here and I cannot imagine any amount of money or brilliance changing a whole culture.  Do things change here?  Yes, but they are from 20 to 40 years behind the rest of the developed world so I will be dead before this bus service becomes successful.  BUT, I do admit they need to start sometime so this is a good start.

[Markham]

There you go again, comparing a BRT to long distance travel. Its not for long distance travel its for moving people around the city.

Which Jeepneys already do with amazing efficiency, all things considered, and once electric Jeepneys are introduced, they'll be quieter and the cities won't be so polluted.

 

A major block to this BRT plan will almost certainly come from the environmental lobby led by Attorney Tony Oposa who is currently suing both the Cebu local government and national government to force them to introduce road-sharing schemes. Under that, around 50% of the road width would be lost to cycle lanes, footpaths and 'edible gardens' (don't ask!). He's already had some success - in Iloilo, I believe. Since the remaining space will have to accommodate all other vehicular traffic, there won't be any space for dedicated bus lanes. Oposa has had major success in taking on and beating vested interests in the past and he's using existing legislation to make his cases; I think he will win.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Markham

[Jollygoodfellow]

I noticed that this artist's conception of the bus system focuses on the widest street in Cebu:

(Thanks to MikeB for the image)

 

But on the more narrow streets they may be wise to steal only one lane out of the middle of each street and have one street for the north bound bus and another for the south bound bus.  Many of the streets already have a divider in the middle and a good engineer could limit the impact to the traffic to a minimal.  My thoughts are that you would see 3 busses bunched up travelling almost empty and then a 30 minute or longer wait for the next bus.  Its the way they roll here and I cannot imagine any amount of money or brilliance changing a whole culture.  Do things change here?  Yes, but they are from 20 to 40 years behind the rest of the developed world so I will be dead before this bus service becomes successful.  BUT, I do admit they need to start sometime so this is a good start.

 

 

The thing is Dave, the World bank has approved funds and the feasibility study and planning has been done so does anyone think the world bank hand out funds for Christmas presents?

 

Here is part of the plan...

 

The concept for the project that emerged from the pre-feasibility study (pre-FS) was for 

phased implementation of the BRT in an approximately 15 Km long corridor extending from 

Talamban in the northeast to Bulacao in the southwest of the City (see attached map). The BRT 

service plan would include five different routes and no other vehicles would be allowed to use 

BRT platforms or transit ways making for a so-called “closed” service plan. BRT services 

would be supplemented by Jeepneys operating in a “feeder” mode and providing lateral 

access/egress to/from adjacent communities. At full build-out, there would be three major 

passenger interchange terminals (Talamban, Bulacao and Ayala Mall) and 22 other stations. The 

project would incorporate footpaths, both parallel and penetrating the neighbourhoods in the 

corridor as well as improved street lighting. The concept assumes a significant ITS effort to 

provide real time passenger information, assist in managing and operating public transport 

services, collect fares and manage general traffic

 

 

you can read the whole thing here, http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2011/03/02/000001843_20110303102202/Rendered/PDF/PID0February010Final0v2.pdf

 

Here is the map

 

 

And here is just a wiki version of what is happening,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebu_Bus_Rapid_Transit_System

[Markham]

The thing is Dave, the World bank has approved funds and the feasibility study and planning has been done so does anyone think the world bank hand out funds for Christmas presents?

NAIA Terminal 3 ...  :whistling: