Bus terminals for Cebu

So far, the pronouncements of local political leaders in Cebu seems to be leaning in a trajectory to transfer the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT), from its present location at the N. Bacalso Avenue to the South Road Properties (SRP) of Cebu City. To many, this writer included, this seems to be a fine and logical idea. In fact, at one time a few years ago, I was also involved in the same planning the initiative on such a move, involving a South Korean group. Unfortunately, it did not prosper.

But it would do us no harm to confirm the viability of such an undertaking. There would be thousands of people affected by such a move and the attendant economic costs and savings would run into billions of pesos over the long term. It may seem like a trivial move, but the sheer number of people involved and affected would rearrange some economic movements, both for people coming in and out of Cebu City and its metropolitan neighbors and those coming from and going to all parts of the province and beyond.

A terminal is an interchange. In its simplest definition, it is self-explanatory --a terminal is an end point for a (usually) long distance transportation service. In the usual functional sense of urban-rural interaction, there is always a daily movement of people and goods between a central “city” and its surrounding, wider, non-urban surroundings. In the usual sense of our Philippine setting, which is similar if not the same as most, if not all, developing countries, there will be smaller, “urbanized” places some distance from the center we call “other cities” and towns. The metropolis itself is composed of four main cities and other towns in the “metropolitan” system we call Metro Cebu which, up to now, has not been officially defined.

People, goods, and activities always interact between a wider area and its central urban core, requiring daily transport services between them, while maintaining a “circular” urban “exchange” at its core. A good example to study would be South Korea’s capital city of Seoul where there are five bus terminals around the city catering to bus systems from all over the country, from different directions of the compass. These cater to the “provincial” bus services, while the internal city transport systems “catch” and serve the connectivity within the city. Needless to say, this is an important design parameter – to match and balance the capacity of inter-city services to the external provincial services.

While the concept of moving the South Bus Terminal to the CSBT to the SRP would be logical and good, there has to be a matching solution of providing the inter-city transport system. People don’t come to the city to go to SM-Seaside only, most do for other purposes. As of now, there are no existing routes with the capacity to do that. We need to address the existing city transport system (jeepneys and taxis) serving the present CSBT which will be out of business, “hung out to dry, too.” I believe this is within the scope and responsibility of the Cebu City Transportation Office. Time to hit the drawing board, guys.