On delayed flights in the Philippines
I participated in a conference held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan last November and both my flights to and from Puerto Princesa were delayed. The first one was delayed by 1 hour. We boarded on time and there were no announcements of delays. However, we sat inside the plane for about an hour including taxiing towards the runway and then waiting in queue before we were cleared for take-off. The pilot was constantly on the PA system though, informing passengers about the cause of the delay, which was airport congestion. This was a reference to the many take-offs and landings (departing and arriving aircraft) being handled by the airport at the time. It seems air traffic control could not cope with the number of aircraft departing and arriving at NAIA even considering the airport had two runways that were operational (We took off using the secondary runway.).
Aircraft taxiing towards NAIA’s main runway in preparation for take-off
I won’t mention specific airlines as I think domestic flights by all airlines have been incurring significant delays and not just recently but among the main possible reasons for delays that can be charged to the airline are the following:
1. Airport congestion – This can refer to either the runway or the passenger terminal. However, for the latter case you can have examples of very congested or crowded terminals of airports that have planes taking off and landing on time. Tagbilaran and Roxas Airports are like that, and Mactan (Cebu) and Bacolod-Silay have passenger terminals that are becoming if not already congested. Thus, airport congestion as a reason for delays must be due to runway operations. A single runway airport will handle fewer flights compared to those with multiple runways. Airport runway design and configuration are influenced by many factors but given any single runway in a major airport like NAIA it is already assumed that these factors are already considered in operation and on a typical day under normal or even favorable conditions, the only other significant factor for runway operations is air traffic control. Air traffic controllers would be responsible for guiding arriving flights and clearing planes for take-off. The number of take-offs and landings will also be significantly affected by how air traffic control “queues” planes in the air and on the ground.
2. Too many flights – Airlines tend to maximize the use of their aircraft and seem to be scheduling more flights that they can handle. This results in the very common “late arrival of turnaround aircraft” reason that airlines announce as the reason for delayed flights. Granted, in many cases this is ultimately due to reason #1, it seems that other airlines that have lesser flights also have less problems of this kind. In fact, I have observed that in many if not most instances, international carriers do not incur as much delays as local carriers and among local carriers there seem to be a unanimous observation on which “planes are always late” these days.
It seems at first that the main issue is not necessarily airlines overbooking their flights since air traffic control and the number of runways can be major factors influencing the number of aircraft that can take-off and land during a particular period. However, one particular airline has a knack for offering a lot of flights that they obviously cannot handle with all the delays and cancellations they have been incurring to the consternation of a lot of travelers. Though I myself use the airline often due to the convenience of their schedules and frequencies, I too have been victimized many times of these delays including one flight to Singapore a couple of years ago when, instead of arriving in time for dinner I ended up arriving home just after midnight.
Recently, there have been calls for the airline and others performing like it to be penalized in order for them to realize how much inconvenience they have brought on to their passengers. I think this is right in order to send a clear message to airlines that safety and service come first before profit. Too many flights, no matter how convenient to the passengers in terms of schedule, is not a substitute for good quality service. Being a budget airline also does not excuse it from what a lot of people have branded as crappy service. This mentality of airlines reminds me only of similar mentality among bus and jeepney operators (land transport) but that’s another story.
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Updates on the DOST’s AGT project
It’s been a while since I’ve written about the Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) system being developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC). Instead of “reinventing the wheel” in writing an update article, I will just point my readers to the “official” item from the DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD). The following link provides a very detailed update on the AGT project including the pre-feasibility studies being undertaken for where the system might be deployed:
Filipino-made Automated Guide-way Transit System (AGT) Eyes to Curb Air Pollution and Traffic
Unfortunately, there is no information on the locally-developed AGT undergoing rigorous testing towards certifying its being safe for public use (i.e., as public transport). There are few testing facilities for such vehicles including those in the US, Japan, Korea and Europe. The DOST needs to collaborate or engage a legitimate testing center that will objectively conduct the strict tests required to ensure the AGT is technically sound and therefore safe for use. Leap-frogging for these technologies does not mean one also can bypass certain requirements for standards and the DOST owes it to the people who will ride this transit system to have it certified – validating its motto “proudly Philippine-made.”
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Travel the Philippines 2015: 20 Photos that will make you pack your bags and go – @Just1WayTicket
I saw this article being shared around social media about tourism spots in the Philippines. Given the push for more visitors, local and foreign, the government and its partners in the private sector have exerted a lot of effort and allocated much resources to improving the tourism in the country. This includes improvements to infrastructure as well as to the tourism industry itself. There are many nice places around the country including those off the beaten track. I think the following article does a great job of featuring a lot of the more popular spots as well as many that are not usually in the typical itinerary of travel agencies:
Travel the Philippines 2015: 20 Photos that will make you pack your bags and go – @Just1WayTicket.
Some thoughts on transportation heritage in the Philippines
There have been a lot of buzz about heritage conservation and especially the past few weeks about certain buildings in Manila. A lot has been written about this in newspaper columns and blogs, and there have been features on television about heritage conservation focused on buildings, mostly houses, in Negros, Cebu and Panay. Of course, the most prominent heritage project has just been recognized as a wonder of the world in the city of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. I think another area for consideration in heritage discussions is transportation. We do have a lot of historical routes consisting of roads, railways and even trails that could be preserved or enhanced and not just for commercial purposes but more importantly for the current and coming generations to remember and learn about history and heritage.
The availability and accessibility of such tools like GIS, GPS and aerial photography using drones make it possible to do studies and documentation of transport routes such as the old rail line to Antipolo, the PNR’s Main Line North, the Bataan Death March, and even Aguinaldo’s retreat to Palanan, Isabela. There are also pilgrimage routes linked to the most popular shrines in the country like those in Baclaran, Quiapo, Antipolo, Cebu, Penafrancia and Manaoag.
The PNR and Panay Railway lines are good starting topics for transport heritage studies that may lead to some form of conservation. Following are a few photos taken back in 2006 when we surveyed the alignment for what was supposed to be Phase 1 of the Northrail project. The activities were preparatory for transport surveys that would have provided data that were to be used as inputs to estimating passenger demand for the railway line.
Remaining structures of an old PNR bridge in Bulacan.
Old PNR station in Bulacan – I can’t recall if this were in Marilao or Bocaue but the red brick building reminded me of similar rebuilt and preserved buildings in Japan such as Tokyo Station and the warehouses at Aka Renga in Yokohama.
PNR Malolos Station back in 2006 – the building was occupied by informal settlers at the time.
A good reference for those interested in railway heritage and its conservation is a book entitled “The Colonial Iron Horse” by Arturo Corpuz and published by the University of the Philippines Press. There’s a lot of material in that book to get one started about rail history in the Philippines particularly for the island of Luzon and the two main lines of the PNR – the Main Line North and the Main Line South, which I have written about in previous posts. These could be good topics for interdisciplinary studies involving historians, sociologists, anthropologists, architects, engineers and specialist in other disciplines.
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Conditioning
Was traffic really bad yesterday, Dec. 21, or was it typical Friday traffic? A lot of people have been talking or posting about how traffic last Friday was expected to be the worst of the year. Apparently, it was not.
Based on posts on my social media accounts yesterday, it seems that traffic was not at all that bad in many parts of Metro Manila, especially along roads that were expected to be hellish in terms of congestion. One post stated that it him only an hour to travel from Ayala to Trinoma by bus. People usually post about really bad experiences about traffic congestion and this crowd-sourcing approach is usually very reliable. I went home early yesterday and it didn’t take me long to travel between stops for errands I had to do along the way home. Media also would have reported about terrible congestion along major roads including EDSA, C5 and the expressways.
Statements like what the MMDA made prior to Dec. 21 are typical of a psychological approach that some agencies seem to have been resorting to in order to manage people’s expectations and perceptions. Conditioning people’s minds is not a new strategy or tactic. The MMDA has been doing this a lot for as long as I can remember, including during the stint of its former chair Bayani Fernando. Many if not most of these “conditioning” activities are done through media with the agency making statements through its officials about issues such as traffic, garbage and flooding. This is no different to the perception of one agency making frequent “power point presentations” (a reference to projects involving the private sector) to announce much delayed projects supposedly for immediate implementation.
One opinion is that this is a form of damage control. People will usually have strong opinions about what government is doing to address issues like congestion. For people not react too strongly against agencies that are supposed to be responsible for the problem, the same agencies have anticipated and preempted the manifestation of their ineptness by stating the obvious ahead of its occurrence. This would not have been necessary if the agencies did what they were supposed to do in the first place. Hopefully, in the near future such conditioning and other psychological tactics will indeed not be necessary once programs and projects are finally implemented and help alleviate or solve problems.
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The worst traffic of the year on Dec. 19?
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) issued a statement a couple of days ago in reaction to comments online and offline about how transport and traffic have gone from bad to worse in December and especially in the past week. The agency warned people about the worst traffic congestion of the year happening today, December 19, and media immediately branded it as traffic armageddon. Reactions on social media varied from the hostile, desperate, to resignation about their plight for their commute today.
The worsening congestion this time of year is actually part of a pattern, a cycle of ups and downs in terms of person, freight and vehicular traffic. In our case in the Philippines, we usually expect traffic to be bad during certain times of the year and in many cases along specific routes or roads. During the Undas period (All Saints and All Souls holidays), for example, we expect congestion along the expressways and other major roads connecting Metro Manila to the provinces to its north, east and south. During the first days of classes around June (for most schools), it is also expected that congestion will be severe along roads leading to and in the vicinity of schools, especially the big private schools that generate a lot of private vehicle traffic.
December is usually the worst month for traffic because of the increase in economic activity this time of year as people travel more like to earn a bit more income and for shopping. The end of the year also brings about a lot of culminating or concluding activities for offices and even schools so trip generation tends to increase for all types of trips. However, traffic has naturally increased every year and this refers to person, freight and, consequently, vehicle traffic. And so it is inevitable that transport and traffic becomes worse every year unless a major intervention is made in the form of a mass transit system along a specific corridor.
I am not sure if the MMDA or the DPWH keeps records of daily traffic so that we can have a quantitative basis for this. The LRTA and MRTC should have data on this based on ticket sales and the tollway operators would also have data on this based on their toll collections. Such information can provide a strong indication of which dates are the most likely for severe traffic congestion and perhaps allow for prediction and the provision of ample advice for commuters.
Will today be worse than the past few days and will it be the worst day of the year in terms of traffic? Or will Dec. 22, 23 or even 24 turn out to be worse than today’s traffic? Perhaps the statement from the MMDA is a way of psyching people about what could be the worst traffic of the year. This application of psychology may make people more aware of and therefore conscious about traveling today. This may actually lead to less traffic to the relief of many people. Or this may be a way for the MMDA to escape from blame considering they did make the statement ahead of today and this manner of “I told you so” basically excuses them from the public’s ire.
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Research agenda and topic selection
A friend asked me how topics for research are selected by our students. Were these assigned to them or were they able to select from a list of topics provided to them? The answer is actually “either” or in some cases, “both.” We provide a list of topics to our students and they get to select the topics. Some topics are quite popular so we ask students to state their first and second choices, and then ask faculty advisers to discuss the topics with the students to determine the specifics as well as whether groups can be composed to tackle certain topics.
The Institute of Civil Engineering’s six groups (Construction Engineering & Management, Environmental, Geotechnical, Structural, Transportation, and Water Resources) all have their own research agenda, which are typically classified for the short, medium and long terms, as well as for the main and sub-topics each group has identified. The agenda are regularly updated, at least once a year prior to the start of the academic year.
The current research agenda of the Transportation Engineering Group (TEG) includes topics under the following general headings:
- Traffic Engineering and Management/ Traffic Flow
- Public Transport Planning and Travel Demand Management
- Road Safety and Maintenance
- Transport, Environment and Energy
- Rail, Aviation and Maritime Transport
- Transportation and Technology
- Transport Logistics
The specific research topics under each category change according to several factors including the current researches being undertaken by faculty members. There is also a strong influence from the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) program supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The TEG is also strongly associated with the National Center for Transportation Studies (NCTS) and researches have been supported by NCTS projects. In recent years, there has been a lot of topics dealing with issues at and around the University of the Philippines Diliman campus including studies on public transport (e.g., UP – Katipunan jeepneys, UP – North EDSA jeepneys, etc.) and traffic along major roads (e.g., Commonwealth Avenue, Katipunan Avenue, etc.). These studies are part of initiatives to help address “local” issues. The logic here is that if we cannot solve such “local” problems then we have no business trying to solve problems elsewhere. This is also part of the thinking of UP as a microcosm of the Philippines.
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NAIA Terminal 4 arrival
I was among those initially wondering about which terminal at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) was being referred to as T4. I already suspected that this might be the term coined for the old Manila Domestic Terminal that was the airport of my childhood days (aside from the old Mandurriao Airport in Iloilo City). The last time I used this terminal was in mid-1996 on a trip to Cebu and prior to my study leave abroad. That was more than 18 years ago so when I had the chance to use Terminal 4 again, I decided to go for it. Following are photos I managed to get of T4 as I arrived from Puerto Princesa via Tiger Air, which was operated by Cebu Pacific but used the old domestic terminal in and out of Manila.
Ground staff preparing to position the stairs for deplaning passengers.
Air Asia Zest aircraft parked in front of the terminal – there are basically two liveries currently in use, the old Zest Air design and the Air Asia design. Air Asia acquired the majority for the airline from Zest Air not too long ago.
Airport ground personnel stand around to guide passengers towards the arrival area. Unlike other airports, they are more active in asking passengers not to loiter in the tarmac for photo opportunities.
Another look at the Air Asia Zest planes still in their old livery
We had to walk a bit around the terminal building to get to the arrival area. We had to enter the terminal through a side entrance instead of what looked like the more formal entrance to the arrival area.
Baggage claim area – it looked like they refurbished this area, which brought back memories of the same area I’d seen after arriving from domestic trips (mostly from Iloilo).
Exit from the arrival area leading to the driveway.
Tourists waiting for their checked-in baggage
Information board for arriving flights at Terminal 4
Terminal 4 also serves international flights as can be deduced from the signs and the arrival from Kuala Lumpur shown in the info board in the previous photo. These are flights operated by Air Asia, which is the leading budget airlines in the world.
Busy driveway with drivers picking up or unloading passengers at the airport. I remember this area swarmed with porters back in the day when baggage included a lot of boxes and other stuff people carried to Manila from provincial trips. I still remember one trip by myself during my college days when a porter offered his help with my bags. I didn’t have money to tip him so I told him I could manage (I obviously could not.) but then he helped me anyway, quipping “libre naman iyan” (that’s all free) – a good lesson in humility for me, which I always recall in similar situations.
There is a covered waiting area for well-wishers across from the arrival area exit.
A view of the Terminal 4 driveway as we drove out to go home.
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No PAGASA? No problem!
- Weather Underground
- Joint Typhoon Warning Center of the US Navy
JTWC’s latest information on Hagupit
Wunderground’s latest 5-day forecast for Hagupit
NOAA storm tracks showing current and potential weather systems in the Western Pacific
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The engineering blame game and a need for some re-education
A prominent architect was always posting on his social media account about how much of what’s wrong with our infrastructure (especially transport-related) are due to engineers. It was a sad commentary particularly because he wasn’t mentioning anything about the involvement and responsibility of architects in the planning and design of infrastructure. For most projects that fall under the category of ‘planned development’ including mixed use developments like the Eastwoods, BGCs, Nuvalis, MOAs, and other similar projects are planned and designed mainly by a team of architects. Highways and streets are part of these projects and often, engineers are given the task of detailing and in certain cases, analyzing and ending up with the responsibility to justify designs provided to them. So for those types of projects funded or led by the private sector, its probably the architects who have much say in the plans and designs and who should be scrutinized for their shortcomings in as far as sustainable or “green” criteria are involved.
It is a whole different story, however, for public roads, especially those that are classified as national roads. The reality is that many DPWH engineers need to re-tool, learn and practice principles of sustainable infrastructure design. This includes incorporating green or environment-friendly design principles, which includes consideration of the landscape. We met some DPWH engineers in one seminar before on sustainable transport who thought environmentally sustainable transport (EST) was simply environmental impact assessment (EIA) and who proudly claimed they already knew about the topic. I think many engineers and planners in government need to unlearn many things and dissociate their minds from a lot of what they have come to accept as standard, acceptable or correct that are actually sub-par, archaic or flawed. Kapag nakasanayan na at matagal nang ginagawa o ginagamit ay napagkakamalang tama at angkop kahit na sa katotohanan ay hindi.
A good appreciation of history and heritage also appear to be scarce these days whenever the DPWH is involved. Proof of this are the road widening projects in Leyte and Iloilo that now threaten many ancestral houses that are located along the national roads. Many contend that road widening is unnecessary because congestion has not set in along many of the sections that have been widened or are candidates for such projects. It can be seen along many widened roads along Tarlac and Pangasinan, for example, that the problem is not really congestion but poor enforcement of transport and traffic regulations. Such include tricycle operations, roadside parking, and encroachments on the road right of way (RROW).
In most cases its pure and simple analysis that needs to be conducted first. Are roads really congested and requiring additional lanes? The evidence does not seem to support many cases of road widening as data on congestion from the DPWH Atlas itself requires validation on the ground. A recent World Bank study, for example, found that for many national road sections reported as congested in the Atlas, the opposite is true when validated on the ground. Such issues with data that are used as basis for decisions whether sections need to be widened are serious and lead to a waste of funds as well as negative impacts on heritage or historical structures.
The DPWH still needs to do some re-inventing and should actually take the lead in many initiatives. Among these are those pertaining to what are being referred to as “complete streets.” Last week, there was an article in newspapers where the DENR called for pedestrian and bike lanes along roads. The call was not specific to national or local roads but it is something that the DPWH should have already anticipated and working at for roads under it jurisdiction given the outcomes of the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) project that covered several thousand kilometers of national roads that pointed to the need to improve roads to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. It is a matter of having progressive or dynamic rather than reactive or static stance at the DPWH and this requires more than just the rudimentary engineering background for the agency to take road planning, design and construction to another level.
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Caught (up) in traffic 