Why not both...
Like perhaps one after the other? It is not like the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) are mutually exclusive systems that politicians should have to claw for one or the other.
Neither can really be a stand-alone solution to the inefficiency of the city’s public transport. Both together can only form part of the solution to the traffic problem whose most critical component is a coordinated strict enforcement of traffic rules and regulations by a central governing body.
The BRT has severe route and capacity limitations. Running the length of Bulacao, Pardo to Talamban, it can transport people only from and to points within Cebu City limits. Passenger capacity is also limited because it can only field as many buses as will not add to the congestion of the city’s narrow streets. Hence, the BRT only minimally help ease traffic congestion.
For its part, the LRT will move people from places south to places north of (and beyond) Cebu City and vice-versa, bypassing the city’s congested center. The system not only serves more places but carries more passengers as trains, unlike buses, run on dedicated rail tracks and can pull many more coaches without adding to the traffic congestion in the streets. Thus, it transports more people more efficiently and with the least deleterious impact on road traffic in the cities or municipalities it goes through.
The BRT would seem to be more of a partial solution to the public transport and traffic problems than the LRT. If we can have only one system, we should probably go for the LRT’s bigger capacity and more positive impact on road traffic. But if the idea is to optimize solutions to the mass transport and road traffic problems, we should install both systems, like possibly one after the other.
In any case, the debate brings up the sore need for a central traffic and transport governing body maybe as a department of a Metro Cebu Development Authority. In the end, both systems will only solve the transport problem. The core of the solution to the traffic problem, as earlier said, is a coordinated and strict enforcement of traffic laws and regulations by a central body.
The heat of the debate can only be understood in the context of parties fighting for (who gets) the credit for the project and the ensuing political mileage. Or, what is even worse, the heat can also be understood in the possible context of business and political players fighting for hefty profits/commissions accruing from the project.
If people were less concerned with the recognition and/or the money there is really no need to choose between the BRT and LRT. If the idea is to solve the mass transport and traffic problems, we should have both and more.