With bad policies, people suffer
Credit to Author: ROBERT SIY| Date: Fri, 03 May 2019 16:24:36 +0000
Bad policies are among the root causes of our worsening mobility. And to get out of this fix, we need more than a collection of projects. Infrastructure is crucial, but a lot needs to be done to set the right policies in place.
On Sept. 12, 2017, the Board of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), with President Rodrigo Duterte as chair, approved the National Transport Policy (NTP). Section 7 of the NTP states:
SECTION 7. Transportation management in urban and regional areas. The focus is moving more people than vehicles. Public mass transportation in urban areas shall be given priority over private transport. High capacity public transport systems shall be the preferred mode in high passenger density corridors.
These few sentences capture the overarching principle for planning and managing transportation in urban areas: the mobility of people matters more than the mobility of cars. If the government implements this principle consistently, we will have healthier citizens, more vibrant cities, cleaner air, better access to jobs and services, and a more productive economy. Government agencies—national and local—should embrace this directive and give it full meaning. This is the hard part.
Traditionally, the government has considered the car user as the main client. For example, the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, the high-level planning document issued by NEDA, contains a results matrix that lists the performance measures of line agencies. For both the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the target for road transport is defined as: “Travel speed by road in key corridors increased (kph)”.
This long-standing performance objective of both the MMDA and DPWH (which promotes faster car speeds at the expense of pedestrians and public transport) is in direct conflict with the “people-mobility” principle of the NTP. It is also inconsistent with road safety objectives which prescribe lower vehicle speeds in urban areas to reduce the incidence and severity of road crashes.
Over many decades, the welfare of commuters has been sacrificed to make cars go faster. Roads are widened while sidewalks are reduced; pedestrian crossings are elevated so that cars no longer have to stop; and buses and vans are banned from major corridors to give cars more road space. And so on. These bad policies have to stop.
Agencies such as the MMDA and the DPWH should abandon practices, technical standards and performance measures in conflict with the directive to prioritize people mobility.
Once we focus on maximizing people mobility rather than vehicle mobility, the way forward becomes much clearer — a) allocate road space to more efficient transport modes such as walking, cycling and public transport; b) avoid measures that disadvantage commuters or deter them from using public transport; and c) introduce regulations that will encourage private car users to shift to more efficient and sustainable transport modes.
Under the “people-mobility” principle of the NTP, it is therefore wrong for MMDA to remove provincial buses from EDSA, each carrying 40 to 55 persons, for the purpose of decongesting the corridor. Provincial buses account for less than 4 percent of vehicles on EDSA, while private cars account for over two-thirds of vehicles.
If bus riders are unable to transfer easily from a provincial bus to a city bus at the new terminals, frustrated bus riders will shift to using private motor vehicles instead. This would add to the population of motor vehicles on EDSA and cause even more congestion. Because it may cause more harm than good, the proposed provincial bus ban should be deferred and be subject to careful review.
If public transport has priority over private vehicles and if maximizing the movement of people is the objective, MMDA should find ways of enhancing the travel speed of public transport vehicles on EDSA. In this regard, MMDA was correct to restrict single-occupant cars; this initiative should be resurrected, this time, explaining how the reduction in private motor vehicles will allow more road space for public transport, walking and cycling, as advocated under the NTP.
To demonstrate the “greater good for the greatest number”, MMDA’s restriction on single-occupant cars could be paired, for example, with the lifting of number coding of public transport, or with giving UV Express vehicles access to EDSA, or with providing a “public-transport-only” lane at the median so high occupancy vehicles can move more people faster.
The NTP provides clear direction for addressing our mobility crisis. The challenge for this administration is to move away from regressive practices and to implement the NTP in a consistent fashion. Implementing a good policy can deliver benefits faster than many large infrastructure projects — but policy reform requires visionary leaders with tenacity and political will. Paging Secretaries Mark Villar, Arthur Tugade and chairman Danilo Lim.
Robert Y. Siy is a development economist, city and regional planner, and public transport advocate. He can be reached at mobilitymatters.ph@yahoo.com or followed on Twitter @RobertRsiy
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