Quo vadis, Metro Cebu

It’s the first week of the year and it is a good time to take stock on asking what Metro Cebu’s mobility will be in the near and distant future. The first thing that we need to realize is that we are in such a sorry state going downhill that major decisions need to be made and those decisions need to be the right and appropriate ones. Everyone knows we have had the worst congestion in the last decade. We can’t afford more delays for 2021 or we choke.

We might sound like a broken record, but it’s worth repeating that the primary goal of mobility is to move people from their homes to their work and back each day, and to do that as quickly and directly as possible. As population grows, daily trips increase, too, in an exponential manner and mobility’s target is efficiency – to move as many passengers as possible in as little a time. And the only way to do this is to shift transport systems to higher moving capacities measured in passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD).

Tricycles, multi-cabs, jeepneys, minibuses, to buses and ultimately to public mass transport systems – this is the usual progressive upgrading. It’s non-negotiable, we shift in two fronts – from a.) Lower to higher vehicle capacities, and b.) Unscheduled, no fixed routes to fixed-frequency, fixed route ones. A third parameter is to ensure as direct a route as possible, meaning minimizing transfers and multi-trips. But note that Cebu has remained predominantly PUJ-based while Manila has long fielded buses, LRTs, and MRTs. We started studying the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Cebu City 12 years ago only to be threatened with cancellation in 2018 by the same very agencies supposed to implement it. Now it looks mangled to a point is barely recognizable from its original design.

At present, we supposedly have two ongoing developments – the transmuted Cebu BRT which looks more like a busway system than a real full BRT, and the proposed monorail, both of which we don’t have much information. Knowing the dearth of progress we’ve had, we should welcome both, and even more, with just a note that the monorail was reportedly having the same PPHPD capacity as the BRT, the former costing five times as the latter. Both have been hampered by the pandemic, and whatever minuscule information we have on them has gone lesser even more, because nobody’s engaging and communicating to the public. So, we really don’t know what to expect where we’ll be in the near and distant future.

If there is one thing the government can really do to assuage the Cebuanos, it is to communicate, consult, and engage the people to participate. Nothing will assure the people more about their future than when the government gives relevant, periodic, and substantial feedback on works that affect them the most. To fail in that may mean two things – they really don’t know what they’re doing, or they’re keeping some things from the public. I believe Cebuanos would be happy with a twice a month update. At least there would be things to look forward to…a hope.