The proposed ordinance to establish shared priority bike lanes hit another snag after the Cebu City Council deferred the measure’s third and final reading during its regular session yesterday.
Several councilors expressed concern on the width of existing roads and the safety of bikers.
Councilor Gerry Carillo, a cycling enthusiast, said a dedicated bike lane would be better.
“You can’t prevent vehicles from really closing in on the bikers and accidents can occur,” Carillo said.
He said a dedicated bike lane can be doable and it is provided under the National Building Code that there should be a no-build zone within 5 meters from a national road.
“But this is not observed in Cebu City like for example, in Osmeña Blvd. We can start there and put up a bike lane within the five meters in Osmeña Blvd. We can also have it implemented in the SRP,” Carillo said.
For his part, Councilor Noel Wenceslao proposed an off-road bike lanes.
“Considering how narrow our roads in the city are, I suggest to have off-road bike lanes for the safety of the bikers and so as not to make the roads even narrower,” he said.
He pointed out that off-road bike lanes are being encouraged in other places like in Xiamen, China and in Singapore.
Wenceslao also said it might be difficult to have the shared lanes, especially with the coming implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
This was supported by Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos who said bike lanes would be good if the city has big roads.
She cited as an example the recent road sharing experiment which resulted in traffic congestion within the area.
The proposed ordinance to provide for shared priority bike lanes in designated roads in the city is authored by Councilor Nida Cabrera.
Under the proposed measure, a Tindak Sugbo board will be formed and will decide which areas will have the shared lanes. These will be proposed to the city council for approval.
Shared bike lanes, Cabrera explained, will have bikers being prioritized in its use. However, if there are no bikers using the 1.5-meter lane, it can still be used by motorized vehicles on the road.
“Whether we like it or not, the bikers are already there. People bike to work and to school. We just need to give priority to them in some portions of the road,” Cabrera explained.
She was supported by Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr., who said a shared lane will not make the roads narrower since other motorists can still use it. He said dedicated bike lanes can be done in the future if there are road widening projects.
“But what we need now is for shared lanes,” Gabuya said.
With the recommendations and concerns raised by the other councilors, Cabrera opted to defer for one week the approval of the ordinance which was included in yesterday’s agenda supposedly for final deliberation.