Manila, Philippines--Metro Manila's first Bus Rapid Transit system, modeled on the busway system in Curitiba, Brazil, is scheduled to begin operation by year's end.
Philtrak PMS, a private Philippine electronics and Intelligent Transportation Systems company, will launch the $91 million "Public Utility Articulated Bus System," envisioned as a way to help ease Metro Manila's traffic jams and transportation problems. Its project, the first of its kind for the Philippines, has been approved by a government oversight committee as a pioneer venture, which qualifies it for substantial tax and other incentives.
The project will start out with 110 articulated bus units and 110 shuttle bus units, which are expected to transport 180,000 people daily.
Its main depot will be at the Food Terminal Incorporated Complex in Taguig, Metro Manila. Commercial operations will take place in four phases, starting in December of 1999. Full scale operation is expected next year.
Philtrak previously signed two memoranda of understanding with the Metro Manila Development Authority, the Department of Transportation and Communication, and the Department of Public Works and Highways. The agreements will enable the pilot operation of the system along the C-5 route and subsequently implement the same system to other key corridors and urban areas of the country.
Philtrak's integrated bus operation seeks to provide the public with a safe and dependable mass transit system that, in the words of its sponsors, "does not overspeed, overtake, illegally load and unload, swerve, block, pollute or cause unnecessary accidents or traffic jams."
The Curitiba experience has also made waves in the U.S., where Federal Transit Administrator Gordon J. Linton recently announced the selection of 10 communities to participate in the FTA's Bus Rapid Transit Demonstration Program. The program is designed to demonstrate how the goal-directed integration of planning and technology will allow buses to operate with the speed and reliability of light rail systems, as in Curitiba, at a fraction of the cost. For background, visit APTA's home page, at www.apta.com, and search the APTA data base for "Bus Rapid Transit."
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