BACOLOD City – The bike lane in Iloilo City should not be compared to that in Bacolod, according to City District Engineer Abraham Villareal.
The Department of Public Works and Highways official fielded this statement after a post went viral on Facebook comparing the bike lanes in the two Western Visayas cities.
The post had photos attached in it – one showing the bike lane on the Diversion Road in Iloilo and the other, the bike lane on the circumferential road in Bacolod.
“Even in the design and implementation of bike lanes, Iloilo City has overtaken Bacolod City. Sad to see that many portions of the bike lanes in the Bacolod circumferential road are used as parking spaces of vehicles, tricycles, trisikads, trucks, or for junkshops, vulcanizing shops, repair shops, etc. [sic],” the Facebook update posted by user Eli Gatanela on Jan. 5 said.
As of this writing, the post already garnered over 1,400 reactions, 133 comments and over 1,800 shares.
One user commented: “Bike lane? I thought it was a parking lane, garage lane, repair shop lane, vulcanizing lane, and sari-sari store extension lane?”
Another said, “This is another obvious form of corruption. I live in this area (Bacolod) and it really pisses me off every time I see these ‘bike lanes’ on both sides of the road. USELESS.”
Villareal, for his part, said: “Hindi dapat i-compare ang Iloilo bike lane sa Bacolod. Sa kanila (Iloilo) siguro kasya pa, sa atin hindi na kasya ang additional bike lane.”
The existing national roads in Bacolod are 30-meter wide.
Aside from the limited space, Villareal also cited budget concerns and right of way issues in constructing a bike lane in Negros Occidental’s capital city.
The bike lane construction will need more than P60 million, he added.
“What we have done was only painting part of the road – side by side of about 1.3 meters – for the bike lane,” Villareal said./PN
Bacolod is a bit better as many of the roads have still shoulders unlike in Iloilo the gates and houses are immediately adjacent to the road. In Iloilo many 2 lane roads are useless as the side are used as parking lots by vehicles, food stalls, garbage area, service area and for some there are still poles that was not moved to the sides. Both city is not good enough but I still think Bacolod is a little bit better.
@VILLAREAL… kong my issue puro budget gina pinsar nyo sir HINDI BUDGET ANG ISSUE SA BIKE LANES. KUNDI ANG MGA GA HARANG SA BIKE LANES. mga vulcanizing, sari store, illigal parking nga wala gina saway kg dakop. biskan gamay budget kong maagyan ang bike lanes wala mana tani problema