Tomas confident Duterte won’t cancel BRT for LRT

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is confident that President Rodrigo Duterte won’t heed a request by Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino to cancel the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in favor of the Light Railway Transit (LRT).

He said Duterte was a mayor before he became the president and knows how hard it is to get approval for projects. “If he (Duterte) really loves Cebu and the Cebuano supported him, I don’t know why he would listen to (Dino),” Osmeña said.

The mayor said Dino can review the project but he has nothing to offer and is out to sabotage the BRT. Dino said Cebuanos demand transparency and will push for a review of the project, claiming it has many inconsistencies.

Dino said the BRT will not succeed in Cebu City because of its narrow roads. Osmeña said the BRT is already funded and part of the funding will go to road widening.

“The BRT has been adopted by the world except for Michael Dino,” he said. He said the LRT supported by Dino is expensive to commuters and the government which subsidizes its operation.

Osmeña said the government is losing billions of money every year because they only charge P30 when they should charge P90 per ride. In contrast, Osmeña said the BRT will only cost P8 to P9 per ride.

“BRT, you can realign, you cannot realign a train (LRT),” he said. If there are activities in the city like the annual celebration of the Sinulog Festival, the buses can adjust with the rerouting scheme while the LRT cannot, Osmeña said.

Should emergencies occur such as earthquakes, buses can drive away from the affected areas, the mayor said.

“With LRT, you cannot move at all. You have to put new rails. That is one advantage of BRT. You want to find spare parts, it is a bus (you can find it). LRT, they don’t know where to find the (spare parts), Osmeña said.