FIBA World Cup executive director David Crocker believes that transportation will be the biggest challenge in the Philippines’ co-hosting of the upcoming global meet this August.
Crocker, who was present at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to watch the SBP Invitational Games, expressed his concern during a press conference in between the Ateneo-Letran simulation game in Quezon City.
“Transportation is the biggest challenge. There are a lot of people trying to move around Metro Manila at the same time as we would like to. We had great cooperation with the highway patrol group to help us work out the best routes and clear the traffic,” said Crocker.
“But we are also conscious of not creating a dilemma for the general public as well. So we are trying to find a smooth way to figure it all out. Transport is absolutely the biggest challenge,” he continued.
Deputy event director Erika Dy revealed that the local organizing committee already conducted transport simulations last Tuesday from the players’ hotels to different venues such as the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Mall of Asia Arena, and the Philippine Arena.
The rides from the Grand Hyatt Hotel to Araneta and from the Conrad Hotel to the MOA Arena went smoothly, but it was the transportation from the hotels to the 55,000-seater arena in Santa Maria, Bulacan that raised some concerns.
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“With regard to transportation, we simulated the rides yesterday. We had buses from the Grand Hyatt to Araneta as well as to the Philippine Arena, even from Conrad to MOA. We had to test that even though it was a very short distance. That went well. The Philippine Arena ride was still a challenge, and we are still hoping to save a few more minutes,” shared Dy.
“Right now, we are using the bus lane, so we have to coordinate properly with the different bus stops because that was where the congestion occurred yesterday. It’s hard to be in the single bus lane because you can’t go out anytime, so when people are loading on the buses at the bus stops, we have to stop. So that’s something we have to clear up when the actual games begin,” she continued.
According to Dy, Crocker attended the Bruno Mars concert over the weekend at the Philippine Arena, and it took the FIBA Executive an hour just to get out of the parking lot and another hour to reach the highway exit.
“On Sunday, David Crocker attended the concert, and he was telling me that it took him an hour just to get out of the parking lot and another hour to get to the exit to NLEX,” said Dy.
“And then from there to Sofitel, which is the VIP hotel, he wanted to test that out, I think it took an hour and a half. So three and a half hours just to get out.”
Dy, however, assured that the LOC will run more simulations in the coming days to address the issue as they look to iron things out ahead of the global meet, which will run from August 25 to September 25.
“We might do transportation again specifically from the Grand Hyatt to the Philippine Arena because we want to iron that out… We didn’t have problems yesterday with transporting teams from the Grand Hyatt to Smart Araneta Coliseum, and we did that during the draw as well, and it went well,” shared Dy.
The former Ateneo women’s basketball coach also revealed that the ongoing construction in the venues is on time and will be finished by July.
“We’re on time in terms of construction. I’m not sure if you were given a tour of the media working areas a while ago. It looks very different than it did months ago. I think by the middle of July, it’s going to be ready.”
Still, Dy acknowledged that the LOC still has a long way to go but believes that the country’s preparations is trending to the right direction.
“All in all I would give it a score 5 out of 10 so that means that there’s alot to work around.”
