Why not a Luxembourg-like public transport system?

In my fourth year high school, 1966-1967, our teacher Mrs. Remedios Sanchez (now with the Lord), taught us about the Low Countries, rather less known except that it was part of the curriculum. Mrs. Sanchez, a strict yet profoundly knowledgeable instructor, made it an exciting discussion to inform us about the terrain of those nations named Benelux as the reason why they are called Low Countries. With its name being coined from the first syllables of each country’s name Benelux is, today, a modern economic union comprising three neighboring monarchies of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Much of their land along the North Sea coast and for some distance inland is either below sea level or just slightly above it. In fact, more than a quarter of the total land area of the Netherlands is below sea level.

Benelux countries have grown far beyond the tagline I heard in high school. It is reputed to be the precursor of the European Union. This is one part of the world though that I haven’t visited even if Cebu City itself has good ties with Haarlemmermeer, a municipality in the western province of North Netherlands. Wikipedia, by the way, notes that the name Haarlemmermeer means 'Haarlem's lake', referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.

The Philippines is about 116 times bigger than Luxembourg. I learned that statistics put the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg near the top of the list of countries for the number of cars in relation to the population. In fact the number of cars in Luxembourg reached 415,002 in 2019. The Ministry of Mobility and Public Works, Public Transport Administration of Luxembourg claims, on the other hand, that their most popular transportation is still the railway operated by Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL). Accordingly, the country’s railways form the backbone of the country's public transport network, linking the most important towns. But since 1st March 2020, public transport in Luxembourg is free throughout the country and for all modes of transport --trams, trains, and buses.

This is what Sir Leo Lastimosa, in his Baruganan podcast, talked about recently. With his indulgence, I want to liken this Luxembourg free mass transport program to the Bus Rapid Transit of our city from the point of view of an ordinary citizen. I don’t have any educational background to look into the technical labyrinth of running the BRT much less of operating a Luxembourg-like mass transit program.

Surely, the ways which the BRT shall traverse are existing roads. There will be no new avenues to be built for the BRT. Of course, as reported, these existing roads will be widened with the expanded course devoted to the present number of road users. I believe that the totality of whatever widening may be added will only be consumed by the BRT and its corresponding equipment. In other words, when the plus and minus factors are considered, I am afraid that the kind of traffic jams we suffer daily will remain our cross.

True to the off-tangent nature of this column, allow me sound off a suggestion. Let the government look at the BRT not as any profit motivated enterprise. The government and private partners must uphold the highest essence public welfare. Why can’t they review the experiment of Luxembourg and find out how beneficial can it be for our people. If the BRT will be for the use of the traveling public, free of cost, people will not use their motorcycles and cars to go to their work placed and back. There will be fewer road users. Certainly no traffic jams and there will be huge savings. Now, if running the BRT entails expenses (of course) our experts can calculate the reasonable amount of fare each passenger pays. Such amounts will shoulder the maintenance of the system.