Commuter options and the RDC–City Hall tug-of-war

CAPILLAS

Even before the Uber-Grab merger occurred, I had an inkling of what would become of the popular network service ride app after securing a ride in one of their member taxis a few days ago.

Before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) approved a new fare rate increase for taxis in Central Visayas (?-I wonder if this same rate scheme also applies to all taxi operators in the rest of the country) that imposed an additional P2 for every minute of delay experienced during traffic, the taxi fare rate from the Cebu Daily News office to where I stayed hovered between P89 to P92 at the most even with the traffic and the P40 flagdown rate.

Now, no thanks to that fare rate scheme, the same distance and albeit slightly heavier traffic conditions had the taxi driver charging me anywhere between P120 to P130 or a ridiculous P18-P20 to P30 increase for the same route.

Even when I resorted to contracting a Grab taxi ride for the same route, I also ended up paying P120 since the driver told me I had to pay the extra P20 for “service charge” or something.

I know there are discounts/special ride promos of sorts offered by Grab and even Uber whenever they please but they also impose fare rate surges especially when heading to traffic prone areas and that’s why I hesitate using either Grab or Uber for a ride to my destination.

Between haling a taxi with a jacked up fare meter and an Uber/Grab contracted driver, I had little to no choice if I don’t want to pay more than P100 for one ride back to base.

The only other option is to ride a passenger jeepney which would take me several meters to reach by foot to the nearest area for boarding or a motorcycle-for-hire (habal-habal) whose driver I would have to haggle for the lowest possible fare rate.

Thanks to the monster traffic congestion that is prevalent in Metro Cebu even before work on the Natalio Bacalso Avenue underpass project in Cebu City started and the Train Law that imposes higher taxes on fuel, commuters are faced with higher fare rates from passenger jeepneys and taxis with no immediate relief in sight other than engaging in some creative commuter hacking.

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It’s interesting to note that after his flyover projects were dropped a few years ago, Rep. Raul del Mar of Cebu City’s north district changed strategy and opted to pursue not one, nor even two but three underpass projects that were eventually not included in the list of projects recommended for implementation by the Regional Development Council (RDC-7).

Thus, it was no small matter for the congressman to walk out of the recent RDC meeting and remind the council afterward that he will lobby to reintroduce the underpass projects once it is deliberated on by Congress sometime later this year.

That said, I hope this whole episode won’t result in a fruitless tug-of-war, if it’s not happening already, that will cost precious funding for projects to Cebu City and the rest of Metro Cebu due to the RDC’s opposition.

With the RDC insisting that every project specifically those relating to traffic and transportation should be done “in sequence”, what the council did was to bring everything back to square one with the end target of reintroducing the master plan conceived under the auspices of the movers and shakers behind Mega Cebu.

And anyone familiar with Cebu City Hall knows how Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña feels about Mega Cebu and how he will insist on doing things his way, with or without the approval of other elected officials in Metro Cebu.

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Say what you can and will about him but as he himself said it a few times, there is little doubt that Mayor Osmeña and his people have quite the knack for crafting programs/projects and selling them well enough to persuade investors and financing institutions into providing funds for its implementation.

In contrast, his predecessor former Mayor Michael Rama was unable to invite other investors aside from those who already had a stake at the South Road Properties (SRP) and established businesses that were headed for expansion.

Is Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, who is said to have his own clique in the RDC, able to do his job and invite investors and persuade financing institutions into pouring funds for his pet Light Railway Transit-subway project?

Of course, Dino and RDC supporters will argue that it’s not all about projects but how they are implemented and whether they are holistic solutions and so on, but they will have to argue their case to an impatient and weary public who wants results and not another feasibility study.