Less cars, more buses

With the traffic congestion in Metro Cebu still far from resolution, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s suggestion to use buses to transport commuters to and from the Mandaue–Mactan bridge could prove useful if the city governments of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu would agree to it.

If the mayor floated that proposal in, say, the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB), it may have gained serious attention and consideration not only from local officials of the two cities but also from the private sector which would then give its inputs to either improve on or maybe reject it altogether.

Then again, the local governments of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities can come out with a better solution to ease the traffic at the Mandaue–Mactan bridge. If only Mayor Osmeña attended an MCDCB meeting, then his “unsolicited proposal” would have gained better traction and discussion, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza told reporters.

But Osmeña’s aversion to the MCDCB and its private sector component Mega Cebu aside, his bus proposal also came with his suggestion to ban the use of private cars heading to and from the bridges during office or peak hours.

The suggestion would have been contentious were it not for the mayor’s ancillary proposal to use big buses that can accommodate more than 50 persons in comfort and convenience.

More buses and fewer cars mean less traffic, at least from Osmeña’s perspective, and there is merit to his suggestion. It also highlights the grim fact that there are too many privately owned vehicles on the road.

But in asking motorists to sacrifice the use of their private vehicles in order to board mass transit units, it should be reiterated to the transport groups that the public deserves more than their aging, dilapidated, smoke-belching jeepneys to ride to and from work and school.

Hence Osmeña’s suggestion and offer to find investors for this project. Too bad that the traffic agencies in Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City insist that color- and number-coding schemes are better for both motorists and public transportation.
The ban on private vehicles in the Mandaue–Mactan bridge should not be implemented if there is no bus liner that can comfortably transport commuters to and from the bridge to their respective destinations, such as the international airport.

The mass transit bus system also dovetails nicely with the incoming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Cebu City which Osmeña still believes in and continually promotes not only for the city but for other parts of Metro Cebu.

And what to do with passenger jeepneys that take their own sweet time loading and unloading passengers?

If Osmeña’s proposal were to be considered, both motorists and passenger jeepney drivers should make way for these buses provided that fare rates are reasonable and terminals are built to accommodate them.