Mr. Colin Brader, Managing Director of Intergrated Transport Planning Ltd. shows the BRT service plan as he briefs the media regarding Cebu BRT Feasibility Study held at Cebu Grand Convention Center. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
WHILE officials and the riding public is anticipating the upcoming Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, 46-year-old jeepney driver Joselito Buranan is worried their family’s source of income will vanish.
The Cebu City government, however, plans to create new feeder routes where jeepneys bring commuters from certain areas to BRT stations.
“Unsa naman lang among buhaton ani? Pag-drive ra gyud ug jeep akong nahibaw-ang trabaho sukad sauna. Ug dako na akong nagasto nga puhunan para ani,” Baranan said.
(What will we do now? Driving the jeepney is the only work I know. And I have spent so much capital on this.)
He drives a jeep which plies the route from downtown Cebu to the Cebu Business Park going to Talamban.
The P10-billion 15-kilometer Cebu BRT project will run from N. Bacalso Avenue up to Talamban.
The BRT will have 33 stations, 176 buses and is expected to service 330,000 passengers a day.
The Cebu City government has assured that it is prepared to mitigate the impact of the project on Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) drivers as well as those whose property will have to be expropriated for the project’s road right-of-way.
“Rest assured, the Cebu City government’s foremost priority is to manage the industry that will be displaced,” said Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) executive director Rafael Yap.
Citing a study by the University of the Philippines National Center for Transportational Studies (NCTS), Yap said there are approximately more than 3,000 units of PUJs that will be affected by the BRT project.
“These are with varying impacts. Some will have 10, 50, or 80 percent impact but overall, 3,000 units. Multiply by two shifts of drivers so that’s 6,000 drivers,” Yap explained.
Alternative modes of livelihood can also be introduced by the city to affected drivers.
As for those affected by road right-of-way acquisitions, Yap said this is minimal since only the BRT stations will have to be widened.
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