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Some thoughts on bus transportation for Metro Manila and beyond
There are two recent news items about buses in Metro Manila and adjacent areas:
- A proposed study on bus lanes for Quezon Avenue, Ortigas Avenue and C5
- Bus transport supplement for LRT Line 2
Did you know that there was a Pre-Feasibility for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along several thoroughfares in Metro Manila back in 2007? I am sharing this paper presented at the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP) 2014 conference that synthesizes the references including the 2007 Pre-Feasibility Study on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for Metro Manila (supported by the USAID) and the 2011 Mega Manila Public Transportation Planning Support System (MMPTPSS) Study funded by the then DOTC. I hope these studies, which are still very relevant though no longer recent, can be utilized. There is no need to reinvent the proverbial wheel.
Sigua, R.G. (2014) “Identification of BRT Corridors in Metro Manila,” Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, Iloilo City.
LRT Line 2 is an example of government not having the foresight of acquiring new rolling stock (i.e., trains) despite passenger demand steadily increasing over the years. Yet here we are and the old train sets are now deteriorating with some already retired. And then there is the proposal and study by the LTFRB and LRTA about buses supplementing the Line 2 operations. A quick check and there is already a bus service supplementing Line 1 – the Antipolo-Cubao route that is also serviced by jeepneys. This existing route can be tweaked or expanded so there are several lines serving not just Antipolo but also other Rizal towns and the City of Marikina. From Cubao there are already jeepney routes parallel to Line 2. Perhaps instead of just jeepneys, these can be rationalized to buses, which have higher capacities than PUJs? I don’t think you need to have a deep dive on this if you are familiar with public transportation along the Line 2 corridor.
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How about a pop-up BRT along Commonwealth Avenue?
I posted this map on social media showing a possible route for a pop-up BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) along Commonwealth Avenue. This was inspired by the reports this week of the horrendous experience of commuters along this corridor due to the current fuel crisis. It seems that a lot of people have reduced their use of private vehicles in favor of what they thought was adequate public transportation only to find out how lacking the supply was.
While this route can be extended (all the way to Fairview via Regalado, for example), I think the one in the map below would be able to capture a majority of the commuters along the corridor with the end at Dona Carmen being a drop-off/pick-up area for those residing to the north. Quezon City Hall and the Elliptical Road is a no-brainer since the Quezon City Bus service terminates here and people can transfer to one of the other lines that will allow them to travel elsewhere covered by the bus network. Quezon City or DOTr can lease buses and come up with a service contracting scheme to sustain operations. The idea is to first run this pop-up BRT while the crisis in Iran is ongoing. Data collection and assessments should coincide with this to refine the service and perhaps, make recommendations for sustaining this service at least until MRT 7 gets online.
The idea of a pop-up BRT is not really new as there were “proof of concept” runs along Commonwealth and at BGC many years ago. Unfortunately, the BRTs never came to be in both cases; both now missed opportunities as we have come to realize. It’s still a long way before the MRT 7 is up and running. The recent announcement from the proponent that they will probably start operations next year is perceived by many as too late. Government, both national and local, need to be decisive if they want people to be able to go to their workplaces and schools. Maybe this is another opportunity for the more than 70% public transport users to be provided with the services they need while taking advantage of road space being freed up from car dominance?
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At long last, the Cebu BRT is finally running
After more than two decades, the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is finally operational (partly). I think I wrote about the BRT numerous times here. I was involved in the social marketing of the BRT to major cities almost 2 decades ago. At that time, only Cebu City was receptive to the idea as Metro Manila was more engrossed with railway projects that also took much gestation time. I was also involved in the pre-FS for Metro Manila BRT’s so I can say this has a lot of history and political economy about it.
Here is a report from Rappler via their official Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1J3Fpmar16/
I already look forward to the next trip to Cebu to have a first hand experience of the BRT there. I wanted to share photos from the internet here but perhaps I can wait til I have my own photos to share.
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More buses please
The modernization and rationalization initiatives of the government seem to have slowed down. While there are many modern or modernized jitneys on the road, these are mostly in the big cities including Metro Manila and comprise a small percentage of the total jeepneys currently operating around the country.
Buses have been in the mix of these initiatives especially after the pandemic when jeepney operations were suspended and buses were the first to be activated. In the case of Antipolo City in Rizal, bus services between the city and Cubao in Quezon City were introduced. We even thought that they will replace the jeepneys that dominated the routes. Now they are competitors along with Line 2.
There was a real opportunity there for rationalization that involved upgrading to a higher capacity vehicle but that didn’t materialize. In most cases, the so-called modern jeepneys (many really are mini buses) just added to the conventional jeepneys. Were the number of vehicles reduced while increasing passengers capacities? No.
“We need more buses!” is an understatement. We really need more buses but to replace lower capacity vehicles on the road. The inconvenient truth is that we need to phase out jeepneys along certain routes and replace them with buses. Jeepneys may still operate but along shorter routes and would serve as feeder/collector with respect to the main lines operated by rail and buses.
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Bus service between UPLB and UP Diliman
Last December, I was supposed to take the bus directly connecting the UP Diliman and Los Banos campuses. I was supposed to attend the annual conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP) hosted by the UPLB Department of Civil Engineering. I was looking forward to riding the bus being somewhat nostalgic to the Tritran buses I used to ride between the two campuses back in the 1980s and 1990s.
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the conference due to an emergency. So, I will have to wait for the next opportunity to take the bus to Los Banos and back.
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Good Transit is Fun
Here’s a nice read on how transit or public transportation should be fun. People won’t really use public transportation unless they find utility or value in using it.
Source: Good Transit is Fun
I won’t be quoting from the article this time. I’ll let you read it yourself and digest the content.
Happy Sunday!
Reviving an old public transport option
There is some nostalgia about the first air-conditioned public transport mode in the Philippines (correct me if I’m wrong). The Love Bus, as it was called, was operated by the Metro Manila Transit Corporation (MMTC), which is a government owned and controlled corporation. There’s a lot about the MMTC that could be the subject of a series of articles but those are for other days. Suffice it to say here that MMTC provided several types of bus services using different bus models including double deckers. Their most popular though more expensive service is the air-conditioned Love Bus. I was able to take the Love Bus from Cubao to UP Diliman during its waning period of operations in the late 1980s. At the time, the buses entered the campus and I could get off at the nearest stop to Melchor Hall. Those buses terminated at Ateneo near the Blue Eagle Gym. Also, at the time, there were already smaller aircon buses but these were not branded as Love Bus.
I spotted the current incarnation of the Love Bus in the form of a “modernized jeepney.” Like other “modernized jeepneys,” the vehicle is actually a mini-bus. The vehicles are electric and run by Get COMET, a company that used to run an electric jeepney service along Katipunan Avenue. Sometime before the pandemic, they ceased operations. And so this is somewhat a shot at redemption. A comeback given the proliferation of “modernized jeepneys” of various models (many of which are not electric of hybrid).
This revival of the Love Bus is an electric vehicle operated by GET, which is the company behind the COMET.
The livery is a throwback to the original Love Bus. They should have also included the “Save Gas” slogan that were in the original buses.
Will these buses stay in business? Will they help popularize public transport? The jury is still out there as currently they are few and there are many competing options along their route. Their presence though is very welcome and perhaps the nostalgia will translate into encouraging more people to take public transportation.
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Quezon City’s electric buses
While Quezon City rolled out its new electric buses, I have not seen them along my typical commutes that takes me to C5, particularly and mainly along Katipunan Avenue. Most of these buses are probably deployed along the other routes served by the Q City buses. So I took this snapshot of one that I saw not in QC but along Ortigas Avenue Extension in Pasig City. Maybe it was en route to the end station/terminal at Bridgetown, which is at its border with Pasig?
One of Quezon City’s electric buses
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Transport options between Naga and Legazpi
I wrote about the PNR still operating between Naga and Legazpi cities. However, there is only one roundtrip per day and that is the Legazpi-Naga-Legazpi trip. If you want to do the Naga-Legazpi-Naga trip, you have to spend at least the night in Legazpi. But the latter schedule is not so good for the return to Naga as the train leaves Legazpi at 4:30 AM! Aside from the rail option, most people will use road-based transport. That is, most people will probably take a bus or van. There are many bus companies and UV Express vans operating along the corridor (Pan Philippine Highway) connecting the major cities and municipalities of the Bicol Region.
We saw this van parked along the roadside as we were waiting for our turn to proceed along a section under construction employing a alternating one way traffic scheme.
A close-up showing the UV Express van’s end points to be Naga and Legazpi. The declared passenger capacity is 23. Though this appears to be a long or stretched van, I can only imagine how comfortable or uncomfortable it is to ride these for 3 plus hours one way.
More on Bicol transportation in my posts this coming July!
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To B(RT) or not to B(RT)?
I kind of expected questions or comments from my ‘students’ after my lecture last Wednesday about “Traffic Congestion.” Among my slides were those featuring solutions to transport and traffic problems. I presented both soft and hard approaches including travel demand management schemes and infrastructure that we should have built decades ago. The uniformed officers who were there had a very simple take on congestion – it’s basically because of a lack of discipline. While theirs may also be valid observations based on their experiences, ‘discipline’ is not the most critical problem that we have especially considering the ever increasing demand for travel. One government official present was very direct in his question about what I thought about the MMDA’s pronouncement that they plan to remove the EDSA Bus Carousel. I thought my reply and the following explanation was clear – it was a wrong move.
The EDSA Bus Carousel is simple. Bus lang sa bus lane (Only buses along the bus lane). Pag may private or pa-VIP, bawal at huli dapat (If there are private vehicles or those who regard themselves as VIPs using the lane, then they should be apprehended. An HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane is more difficult to implement. Mas pahirapan ang pag monitor and enforce (It is very difficult to monitor and enforce). So this proposal to phase out the EDSA bus lanes don’t make sense from this perspective. In fact, I don’t agree with a couple of more senior transport experts who say that the MRT Line 3 is sufficient and that it hadn’t reached capacity yet. It has but in the time that the carousel has been operational, the carousel had absorbed much of the demand along the corridor. There is also the fact that it will take much time before Line 3 is upgraded. Are the new train sets here? Are the stations designed for these trains and more passengers? If the answers are no, then MRT3 will not have its capacity increased in such a short time. That also means the carousel is very much relevant not just to supplement MRT3 capacity but as a needed alternative mode for commuters.
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