Free bus rides for BPO workers start Monday
Workers of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) will enjoy the free bus ride provided by the Cebu City government starting tomorrow, Monday.
This was announced by Mayor Tomas Osmeña on his official Facebook account last Friday.
“As promised. Route begins on Monday,” reads the post of the mayor which garnered over 1,300 reactions from netizens and 350 shares as of 3 p.m. yesterday.
The designated pickup area is at J.M. del Mar Ave. / Geonzon St. bus stop.
The free bus ride dubbed as “Ce-Bus” is available between 12 midnight to 6 a.m.
The first route is from the pickup area to JY Square to Capitol area to Fuente Osmeña to Harrison Park to Abellana National School to Metro Colon and vice versa.
The second route is from the pickup area to corner of F. Cabahug St. to Mabolo Church to Hipodromo road to T. Padilla to S. Osmeña corner Osmeña Blvd. to Metro Colon and vice versa.
The city government bought one bus for the free ride at P8 million as approved under the Supplemental Budget-4.
Osmeña came up with the idea to ensure the security of BPO workers following the recent incident involving call center agent, Loraine Temple, 37, who was shot dead in a robbery in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
The Cebu Province already agreed that the city government will use the province-owned lot situated at the IT Park as a bus terminal for BPO companies' shuttle buses which will transport call center agents.
Osmeña also announced that the bus system for BPO workers is a road to Bus Rapid Transit project implementation.
Sought for comment, City Administrator Nigel Paul Villarete said the free bus ride proves the mobility concepts of the BRT.
“It shows clearly what buses can do and allays the fears or criticisms of the detractors, misplaced or not, that buses will not work in cebu city. MyBus has already proven that such a system works even in mixed traffic, even in such a place as the BanTal area. Buses can multiply moving capacities of jeepneys many times over, and if you add all the other aspects of the BRT dedicated lanes, fast loading and unloading stations, fixed frequent frequencies, etc. it can multiply the peoplemoving capacity of a road lane 12 times,” he added.
As for the implementation of the BRT, Villarete said the Cebu BRT is moving ahead, albeit slowly but gaining traction.
All consultants have been awarded for the movement of the project.
However, Villarete said the only remaining pending activity is the reengagement of the BRT Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
He said the reengagement of PIU is a drawback since the Technical Support Consultants and Social Management Consultants cannot move fast on their tasks without the workers of PIU.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) was given until end of November to come up with a Catchup Program to cure the one-to-two-year delay, he added. —