AFTER the Cebu business community and a Cebu-based urban poor group, it’s now the turn of Cebu’s largest transport group to voice their support for Cebu City’s embattled Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
In a Facebook post, Ryan Benjamin Yu, chairperson of the Cebu Integrated Transport Cooperative (Citrasco), said Metro Cebu needs an efficient mass transport system now rather than later.
“Stopping or delaying the project is not doing good to all Cebuanos. The purpose of this mass transportation is to move people faster and maximize the capacity of the streets by discouraging the use of private cars on certain areas. Efficient mass transport system is what we need,” Yu said.
Yu said the proposed Cebu Light Rail Transit (LRT) can be incorporated into Cebu’s mass transportation system later.
Yu also called on everyone affected by the P16-billion BRT project to make “little sacrifices” to avoid delaying its implementation.
“Let us not wait for the situation to worsen, aside from the monetary cost (penalties) incurred, millions of opportunities will be lost due to the delays brought about by the traffic congestion,” Yu said.
With over 1,000 member public utility vehicle (PUV) operators, Citrasco is the third group to voice their support to the BRT which underwent another review from the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda).
The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (CCCI) and the Cebu Alliance of the Urban Poor also called on the government to fast track implementation of the BRT.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III also backed calls for the immediate implementation of the BRT.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier blamed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for delaying the project.
“Why are they doing this to us? COA (Commission on Audit) already issued two observations, saying that the cause of the delay is the absence of a Technical Service Consultant (TSC). Now, they are saying to cancel it because of the delay when they’re the ones sitting on it?” Osmeña said.
The DOTr earlier suggested to scrap the project due to narrow roads and the continued increase in the number of vehicles in Cebu.
But Neda’s ICC gave the DOTr 10 days starting on April 25 to come up with a short-term solution to Cebu’s traffic if they wanted to scrap the BRT.