EDITORIAL - Temporary solution

At least 110 hybrid buses will ply the streets in the coming months, according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7, which already gave their operator a provisional authority to operate.

The hybrid buses will not only cater to commuters in Cebu City. Aside from running the routes to Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City, many of the units will travel from Cebu City to Danao City in the north and Carcar City in the south.

Eduardo Montealto, LTFRB regional director, that “based on a study conducted by the Department of Transportation, there is a need for more buses in Cebu to cater the demand or influx of passengers.”

So far, only six hybrid buses have been operating around the metro. Their routes include Ayala Business Park, Cebu IT Park, SM City, North Bus Terminal in Mandaue City and Marina Mall in Lapu-Lapu City. Another 20 units will soon travel the route from Cebu South Bus Terminal to Lapu-Lapu City.

This is good news considering the fact that Metro Cebu really lacks a modern integrated transportation system. In the absence of such system, these hybrid buses can really be of big help in easing the problem on the lack of mass public transport.

However, the deployment of hybrid buses is just a temporary solution to the lack of modern transport system. What Metro Cebu and the province need is a long-term approach to the problem, like establishing a railway system.

For years, authorities have pushed for light rail transport, bus rapid transport, monorail transport system, among others, for implementation in Cebu. But it’s unfortunate that none of them has taken the first base.

Cebuanos are hopeful that in the remaining years of the Rodrigo Duterte administration, which is hell-bent on putting up a railway system in Cebu, an integrated mass transport system will finally be realized.