Through website and Facebook page BRT forum made accessible

CEBU, Philippines - The planned Cebu City Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System, which is the subject of a feasibility study supported by the World Bank, is now accessible on the worldwide web through its site www.cebucitybrtproject.info and its facebook page www.facebook.com/CebuCityBRT.

Integrated Transport Planning, Ltd., the consulting firm undertaking the study in coordination with the City of Cebu, said the Cebu City BRT’s presence on the web creates a forum for stakeholders to participate in the evolution of the system.

Colin Brader, project team leader, said that being on the web is just one of the many ways by which the design and study teams bring everyone’s aspirations and ideas together for consideration.

The BRT is being proposed for funding by the City of Cebu and the Department of Transportation and Communication.Support is provided by the World Bank and the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), a French Development Agency.

The feasibility study, which started last December 2011 and ends in July this year, covers total BRT infrastructure, design and operations development.

ITP and a multi-agency Technical Working Group, are investigating the project’s technical and social dimensions and the viability of the entire system.

 In a press statement sent to The FREEMAN, Brader said the results of consultations with various stakeholder groups, including special sectoral interests, point towards “an aspiration for an affordable, fast, clean, safe and comfortable mode of transportation.”

The BRT in Cebu will be a first for the country and is a bus-based mass transport system that operates on dedicated running lanes and technology-based solutions such as the Area Traffic Control System that allows for BRT bus priority at junctions where it intersects with regular vehicular traffic.

Internationally, BRT is seen as an appropriate solution to addressing mobility needs in an age of growing income, rising car ownership and use, and constrained fiscal resources.

The Philippine Government has proposed construction of BRT systems in Cebu and Manila as part of the Clean Technology Fund Country Investment Plan.

It is an important step in developing the Green City concept and is developing an approach that can be passed on to other cities in the country, the press statement reads.

The scheme was defined and approved by Cebu City Government in June 2010.Project timelines point to a functional demonstration corridor running from Bulacao to the Cebu Business Park in Cebu City in 2015.

The BRT system aims to provide a fast, convenient, comfortable and safe transport in the city at competitive fare rates.

The BRT is a modern mass transport system which uses high quality buses to transport passengers in a quick and easy to use manner along dedicated bus lanes which run through the center of the city. — (FREEMAN)