Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

[flesh_is_weak]

are the jeepneys in Manila still authentic jeepneys--as in derived from the American Jeeps of WWII?

coz here in Cebu, what we have are mostly--if not all--Japanese Surplus...

* * *

hey, maybe some city could come up with a JRT system with uniform jeepneys and that would be managed by a cooperative of different jeepney operators

[mwg12a]

^ It might have came from the old US GI jeeps but it's still authentic to the filipinos that they modified and made use of something to a public use, the design and such is just a truely filipino ingenuity. Today's Jeepneys and even ones you see outside Manila is just a modern version of it. There is no other places in the world who has this means of public transportation.

[systematica]

They should just invent a new system for the Philippines: JRT, or Jeepney Restricted Traffic Keep the jeepneys in dedicated lanes and roadways so they don't cause traffic!

[spearhead]

Originally Posted by WANCH

Everybody hate jeepneys but I like them. As I said it before and I'll say it once again, Jeepneys are a Filipino symbol. Jeepneys are some of those that gives Manila a character

They look beautiful! But they no longer belong to the next generation of modern urban mass transit vehicles that are also environmentally friendly. Where these electric or non-electric jeepneys really belongs to are at different tourist destinations and servicing our foreign and local tourists.

[IndioBravo]

That's a brilliant idea.Air-conditioned jeepneys using electricity to move balikbayans/foreign tourists.I wonder where will they put their luggages though.I would probably start to like it again.30 years of riding the reckless drivers(Most of them) is enough already.It made me religious though.because I ended up praying a lot when I ride jeepneys.

[mwg12a]

^ Like a Limo service, it's how the seats are designed in stretched limos anyway he he he

[dinabaw]

Megaworld to link projects via bus system


Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:37:00 03/11/2008



AN AFFILIATE of Megaworld Corp. unveiled Monday a plan to set up a transportation system that would link the property developer's various projects around the metropolis.

In a statement, First Oceanic Property Management Inc. said it had earmarked up to P100 million for the establishment of CityLink Coach Services Inc., a public transportation system for Megaworld's business and residential projects in Eastwood City and Fort Bonifacio.

CityLink obtained its franchise from the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) last week. Its approved route is from Eastwood City to Newport City via C5, and vice versa.

CityLink will provide the public initially with five "class A" buses, and will add five more within the year, providing bus routes that transport workers and residents to and from their destinations.

The scheme is the company's answer to the rapid expansion of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, in which Megaworld is a major player as a builder of buildings for BPO firms.

CityLink will help support and help sustain the growth of BPO companies in Megaworld's township projects, the company said.

"The bus operator has also tied up with transportation groups and set up a terminal for the benefit of employees and residents of McKinley Hill Cyberpark," it added.

Buses now ply the McKinley Hill project's main artery, Upper McKinley Road, going to Paseo Center near Ayala Avenue, allowing passengers to link up with the MRT or north- and south-bound buses.
Daxim L. Lucas

http://business.inquirer.net/money/t...via-bus-system

[REDcrazy]

Originally Posted by WANCH

Everybody hate jeepneys but I like them. As I said it before and I'll say it once again, Jeepneys are a Filipino symbol. Jeepneys are some of those that gives Manila a character

I agree that those Jeepneys are an identifying symbol of Manila. I think the problem is with its drivers and some jeepney units that lack maintenance spewing diesel fumes all over. I say all it needs better regulation of giving Jeepney Franchises in terms of operators' merit, a special jeepney drivers' certificate course, and environmental awareness.

Maybe these BRT system can be better applied in other major philippine cities such as Cebu or Davao.

[Manila-X]

Originally Posted by REDcrazy

I agree that those Jeepneys are an identifying symbol of Manila. I think the problem is with its drivers and some jeepney units that lack maintenance spewing diesel fumes all over. I say all it needs better regulation of giving Jeepney Franchises in terms of operators' merit, a special jeepney drivers' certificate course, and environmental awareness.

Maybe these BRT system can be better applied in other major philippine cities such as Cebu or Davao.

What would be better is if the new model of jeepneys would be more enviromentaly friendly. An example would be the adaptation of CNG or bio-fuel.

Of course there's the electric jeepney but its too modern and it doesn't have the Philippine elements as the traditional jeepney.

The only problem is how much will it cost to modify the new type of jeepneys.

We've seen some improvements in today's traditional Pinoy jeepney like the use of airconditioning and the expansion of size.

As for BRT, Cebu or Davao are better off since they don't have the rapid transit that Manila has.

[arianespace]

In Europe there are plenty of these bendy buses and they have exclusive lanes to use. They have a capacity of up to 130 pax. sitting and standing. I used its service together with rail network in going to work since its cheap, but not equivalent to Philippine peso please, otherwise you pay at least P150. As to European standard its very cheap compared to running cars where you can always get caught in traffic jams and no parking signs. Its mass transport alright. But I doubt its viability in the Philippines. first, were not as disciplined as Singapore as regard road use and courtesy. Second, Probably good in Edsa and Commonwealth routes as these are big roads. If we have to try it running in City street then we have to reduce jeepneys running metro manila streets. Thats not a good idea dislocating thousand of jeepney drivers and conductors as well as inspectors. third, its not good for kotong cops.

Mind you its ecologically friendly because it carries a lot of people equivalent to at least 8 jeepneys or 2 big buses. Great in alleviating traffic too!

However, we need to consider the economic side of it with regards to employment. Our country needs more people to be employed rather than having no work to alleviate poverty. with this scheme I don't see how on the short term. Its a huge investment too. Maybe in the next 10 years or so I will reconsider my thoughts. But hey this is a very good idea.

[bustero]

Actually whether we use bendy buses or straight buses or new design jeepneys the whole thing still has to be designed and executed on a full system basis. The salient points of the system include:

quick access to the vehicle
controlled access to the vehicle
payment in the station prefered
seperate lines to guarantee ride times and efficiency

Basically it's about maintining efficiency by making sure the vehicles have as high a capacity utilization as possible, also by controlling access and paying in the station you can assure that there will be no middle of the road bus pickups like the current dangerous system of suddenly stopping jeepneys and buses.

[bustero]

from UDC

http://hundredyearshence.blogspot.co...-in-metro.html

3.13.2008
getting better public transit in metro manila (part 4)

Mobilizing the political will to improve public transit in Metro Manila
Part 3: Divide and Conquer
This is part four of a series on how to improve public transit in Metro Manila.

Reviewing again the previous posts:

Step One is to change the frame. Improving public transit is not about decongesting traffic. It is about social justice.

Step Two is to show an alternative vision. Discussing what is wrong about the status quo will not bring change by itself. We have to show what is possible.

Step Three is to build a winning political coalition. A political coalition that will shepherd the change through the political process, and bring political pressure to bear to convince the policy wonks and sway the elected officials.

"Winning" presumes a political contest - a battle, and so we cannot win unless we win over or defeat the opposition which brings us to:

Step Four, Dividing and Conquering the Opposition.

Sun Tzu exhorts us to "know your enemy," so the first question is, "Who would be opposed to more efficient public transportation in Metro Manila?"

The answer, of course, is no one.

More so if the premise is social justice. What politically-sane person in the Philippines would stand against something that is about efficiency, serves the public and is pro-poor?

But it would be the height of naivete to think that there would be no opposition. There will be, but their opposition will stand on issues NOT diametrically opposed to efficiency and social justice.

We need to know their interests, issues and goals and use the same to gain leverage for our agenda.

There will be two types of opposition: organized and not. And that nomenclature is split further down to groups who are influential or not.

The biggest, most visible threat would be from organized and influential opposition, which in my book will likely be the Operators and Drivers Associations of the present public transport services (BODAs, JODAs and TODAs). They have, after all, recently and successfully flexed their muscles (giving, what R.O./Y.R. calls Manila's Extreme Sport, a day long uptick in degree of difficulty -though Enrique claims he found no real effect). They also have a long history of protest action.

But as organized as the ODAs are, they are in no way monolithic. To succeed in breaking the opposition, we have to look at the internal faultlines and use their interest to win adherents over to our side.

Drivers, above all, want a predictable income. Under the boundary system, fluctuations in fuel prices, uneven fines, capricious law enforcement and traffic and traffic congestion affects their take home income. Any system that smooths out those fluctuations - that gives them steady income would be preferable.

Operators, meanwhile, want to maximize their profits. As businessmen, they will appreciate a system that provides incentives to their investments.

One other note, the current free-wheeling public transport ecosystem provides an entrepreneurial route from driver, to small operator, to large operator (or transport consortium). A better public transit system can win adherents if it answers those concerns.

The Bus Rapid Transit system, as implemented in many cities, offers viable solutions to each of these concerns.

First of, the dedicated-lane, bus priority traffic system automatically eliminates the congestion and capricious law enforcement concerns of the drivers.

Also, unlike capital intensive Light or Heavy Rail systems, BRT systems provide a pathway for participation for existing transport providers. Drivers and smaller operators can be encouraged to form cooperatives to bid for and to run the services of the BRT. Large consortiums can easily transition and also provides services. Take the example of Mexico's MetroBus, where 70% of the service is run by companies and cooperatives from the ranks of the former drivers and operators of the minibus services that the BRT system replaced.

Becoming service providers for the BRT, under a formalized enterprise, will allow drivers to shift into formal salaries , moving them away the insecurity of the boundary system. They will also have the benefits of formal employments, such as health insurance and social security.

We can also mandate employee ownership of the service firms so that the drivers earn more than their salaries, but also partake of the profits. Their livelihoods will also not be tied down to the fare rates, but their extra income (share of the profits) will be linked to the efficiency of the service.

A properly designed BRT policy and investment program will move small operators from single proprietorships into medium sized business enterprises. We can provide the capital and tax incentives -for example, by having the government buy and own the buses and leasing them back to the operators to reduce the operator's asset risks. The system can professionalize the current large consortiums, encouraging better corporate management.

A properly designed BRT policy will break the ranks of the ODAs and will likely appeal to majority of the drivers and will draw quite a few of the entrepreneurs.

Other opposition

The only possible opposition left will be the companies with vested interests in large infrastructure projects along with politicians who earn kickbacks from these major investments.

They will argue that fixed rail systems are more efficient but their influence can be neutralized by questioning their vested interests. So, too, with politicians who would stand on their side.

Imagine a politician who is not only labelled "anti-poor" for standing against the social justice issues of a more efficient public transport system, but that they could also be questioned for supporting large investments - as having vested interests.

The final other possible group would be an organized motorist group, which presently does not exist as a viable political force, but it is foreseeable that they could coalesce into a front that can wield some influence. Their main concern would be the traffic consequences of appropriating a lane for the BRT, but that easily be traded of with the removal of undisciplined PUV behavior and by arguing that more efficient public transit will actually reduce car use -thereby freeing up the road for more devoted motorists.

If we frame the BRT proposition correctly, and wield the right political levers, we can easily neutralize the opposition listed above.


Next up: Making it work, the mechanics

[Weina]

Free CNG bus rides to start next week
03/18/2008 | 11:15 PM

Free rides on sleeker and cleaner buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) will be offered for 10 days starting Monday, the government and its private partners announced Tuesday.

"We’ll be at Mamplasan early in the morning, for the start of the free bus run," said bus operator Homero A. Mercado, who is deploying one unit.

Mamplasan, Laguna is home to the country’s lone CNG freestanding retail station, called a "daughter". It is fed gas from a "mother" station in Batangas, where CNG taken from the Malampaya wells off Palawan is temporarily stored.

The free bus run is phase one of the CNG pilot program for public transportation, which will eventually ease into commercial operations by April 3. Fares are expected to be at least half of prevailing prices, since CNG will be supplied at the subsidized price of P14 per liter.

Mr. Mercado, president of HM Transport, said his bus will initially ply the Calamba-Lawton route. He said he would send out three more buses on Metro Manila routes if their operations are similarly endorsed by the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

KL CNG Transport Corp. Vice President Nicky M. Hidalgo earlier confirmed that his company would field at least 10 buses on the Batangas-Cubao route.

For roughly two weeks, 11 buses will be out along EDSA and the South Luzon Expressway, said Mario C. Marasigan, the Energy department director in charge of the CNG program.

"This is the pilot phase. So far we do not see any more problems. When the free run begins on March 24, there’s no turning back," he said by telephone on Tuesday.

The CNG bus project has already stumbled on a slew of financial, supply, security, and safety problems.

But thanks to the tripartite effort of the Energy department, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and the bus companies, the program is now on a roll, Mr. Marasigan said.

"We think there will be no more interruptions, or delays," he said. "This will now move on to the next phase: expansion."

Mr. Marasigan said the CNG program would be reevaluated after one month, to see if the current supply system can support the proposed fleet of 200.

Twenty-eight buses are currently in the country.

"We’ll see if there is a need for more stations. We have at least five investors willing to put up new mother-daughter stations. Right now we need stations inside Metro Manila," he said.

The idea of using CNG for public transport was hatched as early as 2001, as the government sought alternative uses for Malampaya gas aside from power generation, despite public apprehensions over safety.

Shell, whose sister company operates the Malampaya natural gas project in Palawan, agreed to put up a pair of stations in 2005. Following various construction problems, the daughter station in Laguna was inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last October.

Technical glitches were ultimately solved last February.

"Monday is a momentous moment," said Mr. Mercado, who expects the president to again grace the occasion. — MKCC, BusinessWorld

[ericlucky290]

I want to see this type of bus on the street of Manila esp. along EDSA

[spearhead]

nice double-decked shuttle bus! doon pala sa aquatic ang merong dolphins and seals....

[mwg12a]

I think during the Marcos era, they use to have double deckers and stretched bus plying around metro Manila.

[freightrunner]

Originally Posted by mwg12a

I think during the Marcos era, they use to have double deckers and stretched bus plying around metro Manila.

Yup you're right. MMTC used to operate double-deckers and buses with tow hitches where an old bus body with no engine is being towed by a regular bus and then they even had a couple of trailer buses called megabus. These buses only plied the EDSA route though. High cost of maintenance forced them to retire these buses after being on the road for maybe five/six years.

[tj_brewed]

[tj_brewed]

[barrera_marquez]

WORLD Bank traffic experts are in Cebu City today to study the possibility of implementing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the Banilad-Talamban area and to design an “internal transportation system for the entire South Road Properties (SRP).”

Mayor Tomas Osmeña had just attended a two-day World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) seminar on public transport in Manila.

With him were City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, City Council committee on transportation chairman; engineer Paul Villarete, City Planning and Development Office head; and City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) executive officer Arnel Tancinco.

Study

The mayor said they invited three seminar speakers to come to Cebu City and make the study through a World Bank and ADB grant.

“They want to get the real situation on the ground and discuss with us existing data available, and see the sites and make actual evaluation and make recommendations on what to do next,” Villarete said.

The mayor said that after coming here “for the initial exposure,” the experts intend to return for the study, which would be comprehensive “to the last engineering detail,” and make surveys and consultations.

The World Bank and the ADB Bank are helping developing countries shift to a BRT system.

And the City is considering as pilot site the Banilad-Talamban area, where a flyover is being built along Gov. Mariano Cuenco Ave, specifically from the junction of J. Panis St. and beyond the A.S. Fortuna St. intersection.

Yesterday, the Citom asked WTG Construction and Development Corp. to be the one to shoulder the overtime pays of traffic enforcers who helped keep traffic in the area as smooth as possible.

This, after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said it already paid P1.5 million to the flyover contractor for traffic management.

It is the Citom, which deployed personnel and tapped barangay tanods, that maintains traffic flow in Banilad.

More signage

In yesterday’s meeting, the Citom board also asked that WTG comes up with additional billboards and signage warning motorists of the construction, which will be finished in six months.

And while the flyover is being built to help ease traffic congestion in Banilad, Villarete said the BRT system is a major solution to the problem.

One approach to solving traffic is to decrease the number of vehicles by increasing the number of passengers per vehicle, which could be done through the BRT.

If the system gets approved, the BRT will be ready within three years.

According to a USAID study, the BRT was proven effective in Curitiba, Brazil and in Quito, Ecuador. At least 15 Asian cities have adopted the system.

It works like the train system but uses buses instead of train coaches and bus lanes instead of train tracks. It is also cheaper to operate.

The buses are stairless and passengers pay at the specially designed bus stops.

As in Curitiba, there will be lanes that will be dedicated solely for the buses. The Curitiba BRT uses up to five bi-articulate buses connected by bolts. (RHM)