Baguio Streetcar Proposal

Rumors of a tram, train or streetcar line in downtown Baguio City have been floated around for a decade now. The first “serious” plan we heard was in the late 1990s coming rom the Camp John Hay developer, Bob Sobrepena who wanted to connect Camp John Hay to Session Road. That would have been a Loakan-Session line that passes through Upper Session Road and reaches the Baguio City Market and goes back up again.

The idea for a tram mimics the cable car lines of downtown San Francisco that has about four cable car lines crossing the city and honestly, this would be a most charming addition to the Summer Capital of the Philippines. I have long imagined such an attraction going down Session Road.

Such a proposal here again, this time coming from a most unlikely place — Spain.

The Proposed Route

The Philippines ambassador to Spain, Joseph Delano Bernardo, who happens to be a Baguio resident, has gotten a Spanish engineering firm to make a proposal to the city government for a railway that will “run on Session Road, Gov. Pack Road and the Government Center area where the Supreme Court, Baguio Convention Center and a University of the Philippines campus are situated, and will return to the central business district through Harrison Road, where Burnham Park can be accessed.”

Now, I feel all that route will be good ONLY if cars will no longer be allowed pass through Session Road and jeepneys no longer allowed to pass Harrison Road. Otherwise, the train will just add to the confusion that is the city center and be a mere tourist attraction and not necessarily help clean our air.

How will it serve to minimize traffic and pollution in the city center when all else remains the same?

So I feel that proposed route may not necessarily serve the city well because folks are coming from the far reaches of the City of Pines. Although a fine tourist attraction, I am afraid  it will be a taxpayers expense that will merely benefit Henry Sy and SM Prime Holdings if the insidious plans of giving him the Baguio Convention Center pushes through.

Make the tram useful, not merely decorative

I feel that if we were to undertake a “clean air” eco-friendly transportation system, why don’t we have trains crossing the city, bringing everyone from end to end? I propose at least two major routes:

1. Loakan (EPZA) to La Trinidad passing through Session Road, Baguio City Market, Magsaysay until it reaches the La Trinidad Capitol.

Alternatively we can have a Mines View-La Trinidad Route.

2. Naguilian to Kennon – passing through Abanao, Harrison, Governor Pack and ending at the BGH Rotonda

These two lines pass through the city center where people get on and off and so that jeepneys will no longer use the streets in the CBD as depots and waiting stations.

For example, the notorious Trancoville jeepneys (that my sources say number about 1,000) will no longer have pass a circuitous route going southward passing Harrison, go eastward passing through the Cathedral till it gets to Rimando when Trancoville is on the northern side of the city? The jeepneys should be made to confine themselves to that area. Folks who get off from the tram line can hop on to their jeepneys that will bring them to their final destination and be confined to specific areas only.

My proposal will stop jeepneys from crossing the city center because we will already have the trains for that purpose. Honestly, this inefficient “isang sakay” system is actually the reason the city center is congested and polluted because 8,000 jeepneys GO to and STAY at the city center instead of merely passing through. Besides, our “system” is one ride only to the city center, not across town, which it should be.

Baguio should “open up” if it truly wants a Metro Baguio. Don’t put everything just in the city center (i.e. the tram) for that where all this “trouble” of congestion, pollution and crime lies.

Promises, promises

Finally, this is one of those projects, although most charming, that “is left to be seen.” I have heard Mayor Bautista saying the fake pine tree atop Session Road will be replaced with water fountains, or that there may be snow in Baguio, in cooperation with Koreans who wanted to bring in snow machines. But none of these have come to pass.

All I have seen is a contract for Php60 MILLION for the hauling of our garbage to Tarlac for a few months last year. And an ugly, unnecessary, expensive, totally frivolous and capricious Domogan-Vergara flyover.

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