Friendly Skywalks

Escalators on our Mandaue skywalks? That seems like a grand but almost impractical thought.

Mandaue City Mayor Ouano ordered the City Engineering Office earlier this week to formulate a possible design for escalator-equipped skywalks. The executive order cited the observation that many people still choose to cross the roads rather than to use the skywalks. For these people, it was cited that it's easier to take the streets than the skywalk because of the latter's stairs. For Ouano, adopting the escalator-equipped design would be friendly to disabled persons, senior citizens and children. It would encourage the public to use the structures.

What about the maintenance of these escalators if ever implemented? I'm no engineer but it hardly seems safe or practical for an escalator to run right there on a skywalk all day, everyday, collecting dust, braving the weather and torrid heat exposure. I wonder how a long a public escalator like that would last. Personal forecast: Not so long. Would the benefits outweigh the costs?

Friendlier to pedestrians, yes. But will more people opt to use these structures then? The observation of the order is clearly true. Many would opt to be jaywalkers than skywalkers. But for many busybodies who travel by foot, it's not really the stairs that make the skywalk seem daunting. It's having to take the skywalk itself, which would take more time and well, we know how most people love shortcuts. Funny how many people would rather go under the skywalk or take the streets, risk getting hit by a car and then just grin like mad when the vehicle misses them by a split second. Pedestrians can annoyingly be such risk-takers and gamblers, at the expense of shaking traffic rules and bothering vehicle drivers, who have to swerve and brake like mad to avoid hitting anyone.

Admittedly, I haven't treaded on the Mandaue area skywalks but speaking of skywalks, the ones we have in Cebu City aren't very tempting. No wonder many opt not to use them. The stairs and the walkways of the ones beside Robinsons and the one near Abellana National High School for example are often dirty, sometimes stinky and admittedly, on rainy days, they even get muddy and scary-looking. They also lack those safety rubber step guards on the steps. Erm, at those times even dodging the pedestrian rules seems a more fetching idea. A common dilemma: To be a skywalker or a jaywalker? It seems cleanliness would be just as inviting as "friendly escalators" for the pedestrians. If not, even more so.

If jaywalking prevention is a key issue here then in the meantime, it would be best to buff up the enforcement of the rules against jaywalking. The fine one has to pay in case of violation is costly enough to send anyone up those steps and skywalk-bound.

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For the third straight year, Cebu was voted and included in the top 10 island destinations in the Asia/Indian Ocean region by the prominent Conde Nast's Traveler Magazine Reader's Choice Awards for 2006. Cebu has maintained its 8th spot since last year in the region. Cheers to our beloved island!

Pretty cool, huh? Modesty aside, I must say that our beaches are beautiful, the cultural sights and sites are numerous and the shopping scene is wonderfully diverse. One of the criteria was also the friendliness of the residents. And nothing like Filipino hospitality, huh? May we maintain our tourism standards then and possibly even raise the bar for ourselves over time.

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