DOTC pursues bus rapid transit system

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is pushing through with the establishment of a bus rapid transit (BRT) system to serve passengers in Manila and Quezon City.

DOTC Undersecretary Catherine Gonzales said they are inviting firms to submit eligibility documents for the environmental impact assessment and social impact assessment studies of the Manila - Quezon City BRT project.

Gonzales said interested companies have until Nov. 8 to submit eligibility documents for the project.

She added that the DOTC has an approved P5.69 million budget for the contract.

The rating system for shortlisting include applicable experience with a weight of 50 percent, qualification of personnel with 30 percent, and current workload relative to capacity with 20 percent.

The bidding, Gonzales explained, is limited to Filipino citizens or companies with at least 60 percent interest belonging to Filipinos.

The government is pursuing a BRT system that would initially be introduced in Cebu, pending the go signal from the National Economic and Development Authority. The proposed BRT system would be established along Quezon Avenue, C-5 Road and Ortigas Avenue in Metro Manila.

The BRT projects would be patterned after BRT systems in Bogota in Colombia, Curtilba in Brazil, Seoul in South Korea, and Guangzhou in China.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. has proposed a BRT system in the central business district in Makati City.

As early as 2011, Ayala Land Inc. and the Makati Commercial Estate Association Inc proposed a BRT that would pass through Makati CBD and connect two of Metro Manila’s light rail transit services, the LRT Line 1 and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

The Ayala Group’s proposed BRT would start at the corner of EDSA and Ayala Ave., traverse Ayala Ave. before turning left at Gil Puyat Ave. and ending at the LRT 1 Buendia station along Taft Ave.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said about 70 percent of Metro Manila’s residents take public transport while 30 percent use their private vehicles – but the 30 percent who use private vehicles occupy about 70 percent of the major thoroughfares.

Abaya also revealed that the DOTC has commissioned Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to explore the possibility of putting up a mass transit subway system to decongest Metro Manila’s major roads, particularly EDSA.

The proposed subway system in the Philippines would be patterned after those in Japan, Hong Kong and the United States, among others.