Automated guideway transit prototype to be built in UP Diliman

The University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City will be the site of the first All-Filipino Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) system.

UP, Department of Science and Technology and Department of Transportation and Communication will sign a Memorandum of Agreement on July 18, 8:00 a.m. which will set the Diliman campus as the site of the prototype of the AGT.

Immediately following the signing of the agreement is a Groundbreaking Ceremony at the Emilio Jacinto corner Lakandula Streets of UP Diliman.

Expected to attend are Sen. Edgardo Angara, former UP President and Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology; Secretary Mario Montejo of the Department of Science and Technology; and Secretary Mar Roxas of the Department of Transportation and Communication.

The Memorandum of Agreement and Groundbreaking Ceremony resulted from a Memorandum of Understanding signed last January between UP and DOST.

Under the MOU, the prototype will be composed of two 60-passenger coaches which will run in one track. According to the UP administration, the prototype will not only play an important role in the lives of UP community but also in the study of alternative mass transport systems which could be used by the DOST and other government agencies in the country’s urban centers.

In a press statement of Secretary Montejo last December, he said that the cost of studying and creating a local AGT system is only one-fifth of the cost of importing a unit from abroad. The prototype at UP will therefore not only serve as a means for UP faculty, students and staff as conveyance around the campus, but also as a view into the future of Filipino-made mass transport systems.