CEBU CITY (November 24, 2022) — Expect changes and improvements in the city’s bike lane network.

The City’s Sugbo Bike Lanes Board (SBLB) is currently conducting a study on the number of users of the existing bike lanes and which areas actually have high number of cyclists but do not have bike lanes in place.

Panaghisgot. Bernard Maraasin (center), Sugbo Bike Lanes Board executive director, and Rex Raven Ulilia (left), SBLB legal section head, speak during the Cebu City PIO’s bi-weekly forum on traffic rules and the city’s bike lanes. (PIO/Ruel Rosello)

This, as the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) reminds that discipline, not just by motorists but by every stakeholder, is a must for the traffic situation in the city to improve and evolve towards becoming like that of Singapore.

“Ang disiplina sa tagsa-tagsa mao gyuy importante,” said Corazon Yrog-irog, officer-in-charge of the CCTO Traffic Education Section.

Ang disiplina sa tagsa-tagsa mao gyuy importante.

Corazon Yrog-irog, CCTO Traffic Education Section officer-in-charge

“Dako na na kaayo nga tabang ninyo sa paghapsay sa atong kadalanan,” also said Marigen Diano, CCTO assistant department head.

Yrog-irog said drivers, pedestrians, the riding public, and all those who are in the streets should learn to religiously obey the rules if we want to have a Singapore-like Cebu City.

Disiplina. Marigen Diano (2nd from left), CCTO assistant department head, and Corazon Yrog-irog (3rd from left), CCTO Traffic Education Section officer-in-charge, say discipline being observed by all will greatly improve the city’s traffic woes. (PIO/Ruel Rosello)

SBLB Executive Director Bernard Maraasin, on the other hand, said they want the bike lanes to be more useful especially to the “bike to work” residents, who are the most numerous compared to the leisure cyclists.

“Ang sa survey nangutana sab ta asa ba gyud sila agi and matun-an unsa’y density ba. Pananglitan, sa Colon (Street), angay ba gyud naay bike lane, o ari lang sa inner, sa Sanciangko, pananglitan,” he said.

He cited example N. Bacalso Ave., which they found out to have at least 1,000 cyclists passing there in just two hours.

Sugbo Bike Lanes Board members during their September 24 anniversary run. The city now strictly enforces the use of helmets, bike lanes, and even night light. (PIO/File)

City Ordinance 2408 mandated the creation of bike lanes. Early this month, the SBLB announced its full implementation, with Cebu City cyclists, now numbering around 43,000, being told that they should strictly use bike lanes only and should be wearing the right helmets.

Under the ordinance, only cyclists should use dedicated bike lanes (the ones with bollards) and they should be free from any obstructions, like parked vehicles and even ambulant vendors.

Maraasin said that shared lanes, on the other hand, should prioritize the cyclists, or that motor vehicles should yield to cyclists simultaneously using the lanes with them.

Discipline. With traffic continuing to beset the city, individual discipline is deemed as the solution to the situation. (PIO/File)

As to traffic rules, motorists are reminded that “unsignaled” (without signal lights) crosswalks are the domains of pedestrians or that motorists should yield to them.

Public transports are also reminded against overloading, as it is noted that modern jeepneys are supposedly just allowed to have seven people, including the conductor, standing but the current situation is that more are being loaded especially during rush hours. (PIO/rhm)

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