EDITORIAL - BRT talk: Too good to be true

Proponents of the Bus Rapid Transit or BRT scheme may be forgiven for being so upbeat about the proposed project. After all, that is precisely what they are paid to do. You cannot be negative about the very idea you are espousing.

But common sense dictates that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. The BRT simply cannot be what it is cracked up to be by its proponents without some flaws that they are not making a clean breast about.

Take the jeepneys, for example. Everybody is talking about absorbing the drivers who will be affecting by the project. What nobody is talking about is whether all jeepneys will be phased out altogether or not.

If the BRT cannot completely take over the role of jeepneys, that means the jeepneys will still be very much around, not just to compete against BRT, but for road space as well, along with other competitors like the ever growing number of private vehicles and motorcycles.

From what was said, between 300 to 400 buses will be thrown in to occupy a dedicated lane all there own. But because road size remains the same, that means the dedicated lane will take out space that used to be shared by everybody, leaving what is left for everybody to squeeze in.

Then there is that small but persistent clamor by a certain group of people to also be provided their own dedicated lane for bikers and runners. If somebody screws up upstairs and grants the clamor, one can just imagine how constricted things can really get in Cebu City.

The BRT will be using airconditioned buses, which means those who at this very moment can already ill afford existing jeepney rates will never be able to patronize the BRT and prefer to continue taking jeepneys. That ensures anarchy will follow if jeepneys are completely wiped out.

By the way, the BRT expects to be funded by a foreign loan. Some numbers have been floated but expect the final figure to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A loan is easy to get, of course. It is the repaying that gets a little trickier, especially if BRT fails.

And oh, one final thing. The BRT does not consider the Filipino psyche at all, you know, that little thing about anything goes in a Philippine street. The BRT succeeded in less congested cities of the world where people are disciplined and well fed, if you know what we mean.