BACOLOD City – Vehicles passing by several areas in this city will be rerouted to give way to a traffic experiment on Ayala Street, particularly on the North and South Capitol Roads, beginning Dec. 12.
Superintendent Luisito Acebuche, head of the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office, requested the city council to allow a 60-day period for a rerouting, a one-way traffic scheme and an extension of the routes of public utility jeepneys ahead of the Dec. 15 opening of Ayala Land, Inc.’s Capitol Central Mall on South Capitol Road.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod approved the request on Dec. 3.
Ayala Land asked the BTAO for the traffic experiment, Acebuche disclosed.
Public utility jeepneys (PUJs) affected by the rerouting are those plying northern routes in the city, according to Councilor Dindo Ramos, chairman of the committee on transportation.
Affected routes include Bata-Libertad; Mandalagan-Libertad; Libertad-Banago; Fortune Towne-Central Market; Homesite-Central Market; and vans headed to the south/airport/seaport terminals.
The Sum-ag/Alijis/Punta Taytay/Airport-Central Market routes are also affected because their franchise is only up until the Central Market.
A week after the traffic experiment starts on Dec. 12, the city council will hold a public consultation to hear the concerns of jeepney drivers affected by the rerouting.
Whether or not the city council will allow the traffic experiment to continue will depend on the result of the public consultation, said Ramos.
Moreover the councilor said the traffic experiment requires PUJs with the Mandalagan-Libertad, Fortune Towne-Central Market and Homesite-Central Market routes to pass by the South Capitol Road./PN
