Recent news indicated that President Aquino has approved the installation of a P4.78-billion bus rapid transit system between Manila and Quezon City. This will involve the construction of dedicated lanes for public buses in the middle section of the main road to start from the Manila City Hall all the way to Quezon Memorial Circle. An Edsa BRT is also in the drawing board.
What is BRT?
A source describes the BRT as a bus-based mass transit system, which is sometimes described as a “surface subway” and aims to combine the capacity and speed of light rail with the flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of a bus system.
It is further explained that to be considered BRT, buses should operate for a significant part of their journey within a fully dedicated right of way (busway) to avoid traffic congestion. In addition, the source specifies that a true BRT system has most of the following elements:
(1) Alignment in the center of the road (to avoid typical curb-side delays);
(2) Stations with off-board fare collection (to reduce boarding and alighting delay related to paying the driver);
(3) Station platforms level with the bus floor (to reduce boarding and alighting delay caused by steps); and
(4) Bus priority at intersections (to avoid intersection signal delay).
If you think this is a new transportation infrastructure, think again since the world’s first BRT system, the Rede Integrada de Transporte in Curitiba, Brazil, was opened in 1974. As of October 2014, 186 cities in all continents have implemented BRT systems, accounting for 4,757 km. of BRT lanes.
It is described that vehicle capacity can range from 50 for a conventional bus up to some 200 for an articulated vehicle arranged for standing passengers.
Use ERT as the rolling stock component
A related news said that the Department of Science and Technology has recently started roadworthiness tests of its hybrid electric road train project. Designed by Filipino engineers and made with locally available parts, the 40-meter long train-like bus can run with a maximum speed of 50 kph and carry up to more than 200 passengers. It is mainly powered by hybrid diesel fuel and electric-powered battery. Moreover, the train is designed to be energy-efficient, which means it does not need electricity and suspended cables to operate.
It would be great if the planned BRT will make use of the DOST ERT as its rolling stock component since the ERT is locally developed and sourced.
Convert the current railroad system
There is also another possibility which we may consider where a BRT system can be installed.
The Philippine National Railways currently operates a train system called the Metro Commuter starting from the Tutuban station and runs all the way to Alabang in Muntinlupa and Calamba in Laguna. It should be a good mass transport system which already has an existing rail track but is plagued with insufficient rolling stocks which affect the efficiency of its service.
Why not convert the Manila rail road tracks into paved roads where the DOST-developed ERT can run? It will be an efficient way of setting up the BRT system since there is already an existing pathway which only needs to be upgraded with necessary infrastructure.
The train system, which is also being considered for improvement and upgrade, can serve more points north of Manila as well as south of Alabang.
The above are whiffs of fresh air which can only bring salvation to the long suffering metro population as they travel around the metropolis, reducing the billions of pesos lost annually in productivity, time, health issues, useless gas consumption and generated pollution due to traffic.
Dr. Berino is an Associate Professional Lecturer with the Decision Sciences and Innovation Department of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. He can be reached at [email protected].
The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.