Firm proposing monorail offers to introduce eBuses in Cebu
The proponent of Metro Cebu Monorail will also introduce the electric bus (eBus) in Cebu and announced its intent to donate one unit designed for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to the Cebu City Government for A test run and training.
PhilTram Transportation Consortium, Inc. (PTCI) made the announcement after the company sealed on March 15 in Shanghai its engagement with China’s biggest eBus and electric BRT manufacturer, which has a global distribution.
It initially tapped the eBus maker to provide feeder buses for the planned monorail that will use the technology developed by Bombardier of Canada and the latest Bombardier Innova 300 couches.
“We have agreed to offer Cebu City a demo electric-run BRT,” said PhilTram chair Domingo So Peñaloza, noting that the planned Metro Cebu Monorail will complement the BRT, converging in one station near Mambaling and connecting in another near Fuente Osmeña.
Changes
In a presentation before the Infrastructure Development Committee of the Regional Development Council last Feb. 27, PhilTram officials said they redesigned the monorail alignment, by-passing five kilometers from Bulacao Pardo.
The company subsequently adjusted the alignment to go further north to Cansaga in Consolacion, PhilTram chief operating officer Jose L. Guardo, Jr. told the RDC-7 IDC members.
“We did this to adhere to the position of the Mayor (Tomas R. Osmeña) and the Planning Division of DOTr (Department of Transportation) after a series of coordination meetings,” explained Guardo.
PhilTram officials visited the manufacturing plant where Kevin Wang, senior manager for international business development, and Wolfe Wang, manager for ASEAN and Africa, showed them the various eBus models ready for export.
They withheld the name of the State-owned eBus maker until the commitment to donate is formalized and agreed upon by Cebu City officials.
In a statement, Peñaloza said “we believe the two mass transit systems (BRT and monorail) can embrace together and they need not compete for riders. BRT and the monorail can complement each other for the benefit of the commuters.”
He said it has been the intent of PhilTram from the start to contribute to the solution in “bringing back sanity in city roads, especially along the major thoroughfares.”
Proposal in April
He disclosed that more than operating the monorail, it will also operate feeder point-topoint eBuses, like a system that connects a monorail station in Mandaue to Mactan Cebu International Airport and key points in Lapulapu City and Cordova.
Other feeder eBuses will serve areas not covered by the BRT, like Labangon, Guadalupe and Mabolo, he added.
Also in the plan is the provision of eJeepneys that PhilTram will offer to current jeepney operators at easy acquisition terms and connect these to the monorail stations. With the feasibility study completed this month, PhilTram will submit to DOTr in April its unsolicited proposal to build and operate a 19-kilometer railway from South Road Properties through Cebu City and the north reclamation area.
As detailed engineering and design will be conducted by the rest of this year, construction should proceed by 2019 and be completed after two years, operating by the start of 2021, according to Lu Zhijun, senior consultant engineer of China Railway Engineering Consulting Group, who visited Cebu recently.
Peñaloza promised a “propoor, pro-Filipino, and pro-Cebuano” mass transit system that will be affordable, fast and efficient.