Two vs. LRT

The mass transport system pitching game has taken another turn with the recent offensive by Philtram Transportation Consortium Corp., which is proposing a monorail transit (MRT) system for Cebu, When you make yourself look good you, unintentionally perhaps, make others look bad or, at the very least, less deserving, It seems to me like the MRT system’s main competition is the light rail transit (LRT) system. So there.

Philtram chief technology architect Jose Guardo pitched the MRT for Cebu. In the process, he zeroed in on the negative aspects of the LRT system that incorporates a subway in its design. The current champion of the LRT system is Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino. The other pitched mass transport system, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is being pushed by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

“A subway will jack up the fare by five to 10 folds. Many people cannot afford this on a regular basis, especially students. We will make sure we use a system such as monorail that is perfect for Cebu and tourism, Guardo said in a press statement over the weekend.

I tend to go with Guardo on this one taking the angle of size. The LRT runs on two rails while the MRT only uses one. That is why some experts do not actually see the LRT as a competition to the BRT, which is proposed only for Cebu City for now, because the LRT should be for long distances, like from Carcar City in the south to Danao City in the north. The BRT and, yes, the MRT, can take care of the shorter distances.

I read the Philtram press statement and it seemed to make sure it would not say anything bad about the BRT, a system that do not have a use for rails and has buses that runs on dedicated road lanes instead. And-surprise, surprise---Philtram even wants to field electric buses for the BRT and build charging ports not only for electric buses but also for electric cars and jeepneys.

But before we go into that, let us first tarry on the MRT-LRT divide. I mean, let us hear more from Guardo, who said that a feasibility study conducted by the private firm Systra Philippines did see the difficulty of building an LRT system in cities outside of Metro Manila. These cities supposedly can neither afford the LRT nor

the subway. The other supposed advantages of the MRT over the LRT:

--A monorail will take only two years to construct. LRT needs at least four years and a subway, six years,” Guardo said. “If we want to end immediately the suffering of the commuters, monorail is the perfect technology for Metro Cebu because we can implement it within President Duterte’s term.”

--MRT’s waiting time is lesser for the MRT than the LRT, added Guardo, since he he said the LRT, being bigger, has a turning radius of 200 meters. The MRT’s turning radius is only 46 meters.

What should be a downer for the MRT is that Philtram has still to submit its unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) whose chief, Arthur Tugade, seems to be leaning more to the LRT than the BRT. Will that leaning change when Philtram presents its MRT proposal? And how fast will it move through the bureaucracy? Let us see.