CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government has designated a dedicated lane for motorcycles at the South Road Properties (SRP).
This came after the Cebu City Traffic Management Coordination (TMC) Board passed a resolution for the Cebu City Transportation Office to address the series of accidents there.
CCTO, headed by Raquel Arce, announced early this week that motorcycle riders are now required to use the outermost right lane of the road as their lane.
Atty. Kent Francesco Jongoy, CCTO Legal and Investigation Section head, told The Freeman that the move also coincides with the direction of Mayor Mike Rama, whom he said revived the traffic board when he became mayor.
"One of the very first resolutions was the conduct of a feasibility study for the SRP as a discipline zone. Part of the regulation of a discipline zone is to have distinguished lanes,” Jongoy said.
“To all motorcycle riders passing through SRP from Cebu City to South and vice versa, including viaduct and SRP tunnel. You are required to use the outermost right lane,” stated part of the CCTO announcement.
Jongoy said CCTO has the "authority to distinguish roads of its use" so motorcycle riders are advised to stick to their lane at all times.
"It's high time. That’s why back in June 2023 naa na tay signages for motorcycle lane. Motorcycles use the outermost lane,” he said.
Signages for the motorcycle lanes have already been installed while the outermost lane has already been painted with a motorcycle design for quick identification.
Alffedo Loresto II, CCTO operations head, on the other hand, told The Freeman that they have already started their information campaign drive concerning this development, including social media postings.
Violators, though, have this week as a grace period for them to familiarize themselves with the new rule.
“Karon nga week wala sa mangdakop, more on information drive sa tanang muaging mga motor. And nanghatag sad mi atong mga leaflets…. Basin next week mo-implement nami'g apprehension,” Loresto said.
Violators would be fined P1,000.
“Di kaayo siya bug-at...but we hope that with that penalty, with the regulation in place, hopefully ma-minimize nato ang occurrence sa accidents sa SRP," Jongoy said.
“If we go to our collective aspiration, which is a Singapore-like Cebu City, the only thing that separates Singaporeans...from Cebuanos, is the term that we call 'discipline', mao gyud nay difference,” he added.
Cyclists, on the other hand, are also expected to use the bike lane at the SRP.
The Sugbo Bike Lanes Board, headed by Executive Director Bernard Maraasin, also continues its information drive on the use of bike lanes as well as the use of the necessary protective gears, for their own safety.
He told The Freeman that at the moment, there are no changes yet concerning the bike lanes following the turnover of the Metro Cebu bike lane master plan.
The said plan aims to provide a comprehensive bike lane network development plan, inclusive of technical, institutional and information education components.
Maraasin said that with this, more active transport with connectivity to different LGUs around Metro Cebu are expected. Aside from a healthy lifestyle, such is also expected to lessen carbon footprint.
The Department of Transportation, along with the United Nations Development Program, led the distribution of the master plan.