The Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) published last March 20 an invitation to bid for the conduct of a study on the BRT and a metropolitan-wide analysis of traffic, said Cebu City Planning Officer Nigel Paul Villarete.
Villarete said the bid was opened at a ceiling of P32 million, which was double the agreed-upon ceiling raised in November.
The DOTC called for a study, which would last 11 and a half months, starting May to April 2010.
Once the study is awarded, the city government would be duty-bound to continue the project, even after a new set of city officials takes over City Hall after the May 2010 elections.
While the technical study is still ongoing, the city government would start negotiating with funding agencies so that the target implementation date of mid-2010 would be met, Villarete said.
Villarete said DOTC’s invitation was late since the agency still had to revise the original Terms of Reference for the project. While the original plan called for the BRT to cover Cebu City, the revised Terms of Reference expanded the project to cover Cebu City and its three neighboring cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay.
The revision calls for a more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the BRT system’s origin-destination patterns, surveys on more households and more time projections so that the system, once established, will be viable for 10 to 20 years.
“The last time we had this kind of (traffic) study was in 1989 and we don’t even know where the data is now. Succeeding studies were made on specific purposes but this one will paint the transport profile and future patterns not only of Cebu City but of the other cities as well,” said Villarete.
Villarete said BRT was initially proposed to link barangay Talamban to the city’s business district. The study for that area, to be conducted by the World Bank, would be combined with other studies, making the area “super-ready” for a BRT route.
“Other routes within Cebu City will be studied, as well as the connection to Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu will be closely looked into, most especially that the two cities have shown their interest in the BRT,” said Villarete.
Publication of the invite was meaningful to Cebuanos because it signals the start of the realization of the city’s dream for fast, efficient, and environmentally-sustainable mass transport.
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