Baguio scraps plan to build elevated e-train, cable carriage
BAGUIO CITY—Proposals to build elevated electric trains (e-trains) and cable cars are no longer part of the mass transport plans of this city after advocates determined that these climate-friendly vehicles would not be feasible for the summer capital, according to Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
Magalong, during a transport and traffic summit last Thursday, said electric and hybrid jeeps are still in play though, as Baguio proceeds with its low-carbon transport program.
He called for the summit participants to seek alternative solutions from the public regarding Baguio’s debilitating traffic woes in spite of two potential public-private partnership (PPP) deals already on the drawing table: a pitch by the Megawide Construction Corp. to build an intermodal transport terminal at the city outskirts and a smart mobility system offered by the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. that will use artificial intelligence to manage vehicular flow on the streets and regulate public utility vehicles, as well as parking areas.
The summit was held weeks before the Holy Week break when Baguio would again take in tourists and returning Baguio natives who work or reside outside the city.
Transport experts who spoke at the summit addressed Baguio’s environmental goals in managing the streets as a recipient of the government’s low-carbon transport program, which is jointly facilitated by the Department of Transportation and the United Nations Development Programme.
The electric monorail concept as well as a cable car system were some of the investments tied to this initiative, after Magalong, in 2019, signified the city’s intent to reduce its carbon footprint.
Proposals
The local government had entertained unsolicited PPP proposals from Pasig City-based transport infrastructure consultants Systra Philippines, and from businessman Robert John Sobrepeña’s Metro Global Holdings Corp. in tandem with Chinese automaker and rail transport leader BYD (Build Your Dreams).
Both offers have become dormant, the mayor said. Metro Global, in particular, is apparently seeking new technologies in Switzerland and France after engineers of BYD’s sky shuttle technology concluded that their railway would have alignment issues, Magalong said.
“This shows you the complexity” of managing Baguio streets while improving the city’s environment, such as its air quality, the mayor said.
Traffic rerouting, the reduction or redesign of street islands, and the now-criticized Sunday pedestrianization of downtown Session Road (also called Sunday Session) are some of the short-term measures to “decarbonize the streets even for a day in a week,” he said.
Session Road’s air quality has been better during Sundays in 2023 (with a particulate matter (PM) 2.5 or PM reading of 23.51 micrograms per normal cubic meter (µg ncm); and a PM 2.5 reading of 23.25 µg ncm in 2024), but these numbers were not too far from air quality readings of the rest of the week when Session Road is deluged with vehicles, according to Jean Borromeo, Cordillera director of the Environmental Management Bureau, when she spoke to the Baguio City Council about Sunday Session on March 17.
Overcrowded city
Baguio’s daytime population as of 2023 had shot up to 764,301 people per day, owing to 1.3 million tourists who visited that year, 22,044 transient university students who commute from places outside Baguio, 6,469 transient high school students and 351,833 out-of-towners who transact business or trade, said Donna Rimando Tabangin, the city planning officer.
Corresponding to the overcrowded city is the increase of vehicles on Baguio roads.
Magalong said Baguio was designed and built by the American colonial government to accommodate 15-20,000 vehicles on its streets. In 2019, an urban carrying capacity study discovered that the carrying capacity of Baguio’s urban roads had been breached in 1988.
He said Baguio’s registered vehicles climbed to a little over 58,000 vehicles in 2024.
Tourists, which the mayor believed would run to 2.2 million last year, add more vehicles because roughly 54 percent of them drive up to Baguio.
