Antipolo City local government officials and representatives from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) met on Tuesday, April 18, on the proposed cable car connection project which will connect the MRT-4 to the city.
Antipolo City Mayor Jun Ynares said that in the meeting, the project's foreign consultants gave the officials updates on their study as to where the cable car stations can be placed.
"Ang mga pinag-aaralan na tayuan ng cable car station ay sa Rizal Rovincial Capitol Compound, URS, Kaila area, at iba pa kung saan magkokonekta ito sa 3 stations ng extension ng MRT-4 (The areas being studied include the Rizal Rovincial Capitol Compound, URS, and Kaila area among others. These areas may connect to three stations of the MRT-4 extension)," Ynares said.
"Ang cable car ay magsisilbing feeder system para sa MRT-4. Ibig sabihin, ang cable car ay hindi magiging kompetensya kundi magkokonekta sa existing transport system upang mas maging maayos ang transport system sa ating lungsod (The cable cars will serve as a feeder system for the MRT-4. This means the cable cars will not be a competitor of the MRT-4, but a connector to the existing transport system for it to streamline and make the transport system in our city much more efficient)," he added.
The mayor explained that the cable car project will also benefit residents from nearby areas as the city is seeing an influx of bus routes going to other provinces.
"Pag-aaral pa lang. Sana maging maganda ang resulta para matuloy. Wala namang imposible sa panahon ngayon (The cable car system is still on its research phase, but I hope that this will produce good results for it to become a reality. Besides, nothing is impossible nowadays)," Ynares noted.
According to the local chief, the cable car system was first proposed by former Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade in 2016.
Tugade’s plan was to install cable cars along routes that would connect Santa Rosa in Laguna to the Makati Central Business District. He also proposed installing these in Pasig City, Baguio, and Boracay.
The system was also recognized by urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox, Jr., who said that the use of cable cars will not only alleviate traffic in Metro Manila and urban centers but will also “boost security and benefit the environment.”
Palafox said the adoption of cable cars as a means of transportation is “becoming a global trend,” and could “future-proof our country from perennial traffic problems.”
In 2019, the urban planner pointed out that the installation of cable cars that would ply the Antipolo-Ortigas-Makati route is an excellent possibility.
"To support his idea, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated $261,000 for a pre-feasibility study. According to the Terms of Reference issued by the ADB, the study will help assess options “to increase the impact of MRT 4’s development” through the integration of cable cars connecting the “densely populated urban areas of Antipolo hillside cities," Ynares said.
He added that the ADB noted that Antipolo today is accessible “only via congested serpentine roads.”
"The ADB saw this opportunity a few years back. In 2019, the ADB’s transport sector chief told media that cable cars “may be a feasible form of public transportation” in some parts of the country. The ADB official said cable car systems “can skip the need to buy large tracts of land which often causes the delays in construction of big-ticket infrastructure, especially in urban areas," the mayor explained.