IN anticipation of the opening of its mall in the area next year, SM Prime Holdings Inc. is asking the Cebu City Government to open four bus routes at the South Road Properties (SRP).

In a letter to the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom), Sherry Tuvilla, mall manager of SM City Cebu, said they already want bus routes to be operational and servicing the SRP prior to the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the area.

The proponents of the BRT are hoping for an October 2013 start of the project and aiming to have the system operational by 2015.

The bus routes proposed by SM for the 300-hectare property are those that will ply Talisay-SRP-Talisay and Talisay-SRP-Downtown (near City Hall)-SM City Cebu-North Bus Terminal-SRP-Talisay.

Other bus routes being proposed are Mambaling-SRP-Downtown-SM City Cebu-North Bus Terminal-Downtown-SRP-Mambaling and Bulacao-SRP-Downtown-SM City Cebu-North Bus Terminal-Downtown-SRP-Mambaling-Bulacao.

Endorsed
Citom executive director Rafael Yap has endorsed the proposal of SM.

“Currently, there is no public transport access to and from the SRP. In keeping with the SRP’s image as a high quality zone, it is the standing policy of the City Government that jeepneys are not acceptable modes for public transport in the SRP. It is undisputed, however, that public transport is necessary for SRP to be viable in the future,” he said.

Yap said that the final report of the transport study of the Integrated Transport Planning at the SRP states that public transport should already be planned to operate between the North Bus Terminal and Talisay to support the early development in the area ahead of the BRT route.

Awarded

However, Yap recommended that the bus routes at the SRP will be awarded only to one operator who will be selected through open and transparent bidding.

“This is in order to maximize chance of positive financial performance and limit the possibility of breakdown of services,” he said.

Yap said sub-franchising will be prohibited. He also said the franchise will be granted for a period of six years and will eventually be included in the BRT network.

Yap said the bus operation will be reviewed and submitted by the City for approval to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.
Yap’s endorsement of SM’s proposed bus routes has been submitted to the City Council.

The council, through an approved resolution of Councilor Richard Osmeña, who chairs the committee on traffic, wants further study on SM’s proposal.

The council asked BRT technical working group head Colin Brader, BRT project management office head Engr. Maricon Encabo and the BRT-SRP head Jose Marie Poblete to comment and submit recommendations.