Traffic during the the second day of the SM Seaside City Cebu at South Road Properties (SRP) was moderate compared to last Friday’s opening that had bumper-to-bumper congestion.
“As of 4 p.m. traffic is smooth from SM City Cebu to SM Seaside City. Vehicles seems to be flowing freely,” said Rafael Yap of the Cebu City Traffic Office.
He said more than 50 traffic enforcers were on field to monitor and guide vehicles.
Last Friday, commuters and taxi drivers complained about being stuck in traffic up to three hours due to the volume of vehicles heading to SM Seaside City Cebu on its first day of operation.
“Mas paspas pa ang lakaw sa tao kaysa dagan sa mga sakyanan (People walk faster than the vehicles)” said Hans Mikel Alvarico, a Cebu Normal University student.
Alvarico said he and his friends never imagined that it would take them hours to reach the mall.
They came from Colon Street and Alvarico said it would only take them 10 to 15 minutes to reach barangay Mambaling where the SM My Bus units were supposed to pick up those heading to the mall.
He compared the SM Seaside City Mall’s opening to the Sinulog Grand Parade where most people end up walking due to traffic congestion.
“It’s chaos. People coming from different directions. We decided to just ride a jeepney from Colon so it’s nearer but it took us so long to reach the corner of SRP. The traffic was bumper to bumper,” Alvarico said.
Meanwhile, some taxi drivers said they were not threatened by the operation of the new SM My Bus units.
But they are worried that heavy traffic may cost them some income.
“Sometimes commuters find it hard to find jeepneys from Talisay City so I guess it’s good if jeepneys are allowed to enter the SRP and SM Seaside City,” said 39-year-old taxi driver Arnulfo Dosol.
He said he saw that the SM MyBus units aren’t disrupting major roads in Cebu City.
“Not all passengers want to wait for bus schedules. Some of them are in rush so there is no need to worry about losing passengers,” Dosol said.
He did complain about last Friday’s traffic. “That was such a heavy traffic. From Plaza Independencia to SM Seaside took us more than one hour,” Dosol said.
Among the developmental route to be covered by SM MyBus are the Talisay City to Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) route.