On riding bicycles slowly
I saw this interesting article on cycling/biking that I thought was quite relevant to the situation we have on campus. The University of the Philippines Diliman campus has a bike lane along the inner side of its Academic Oval that has been used by various cyclist types. There are those who use their bikes for commuting or going around campus (e.g., students traveling between buildings for their classes, messengers bringing documents, etc.). There are those biking in a more relaxed manner (i.e., for recreation). And then there are those who bike for fitness including those racing around the oval. It is from the latter that UP Diliman has received complaints about conflicts with joggers, motor vehicles and fellow cyclists. But then UP has maintained that the bike lane is not for racing or taking laps around the oval. It was created to have a segregated (and in the future maybe protected) lane to enhance mobility more than any other purpose.
Babin, T. (2018) “How to ride a bike slowly (and why you would want to),” Medium.com, https://medium.com/shifter/how-to-ride-a-bike-slowly-and-why-you-would-want-to-b544ec869846 [Last accessed: 2/4/2018].
UP Diliman’s Academic Oval now features a bike lane between a jogging/walking lane and the lanes assigned for motorised traffic. The ice cream vendor on a NMT 3-wheeler is running on the bike lane.
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On old maps
I have a fascination for old maps. These include the stylised ones and even those that are considered mythical like the Piri Reis map. Here is something that’s real and old that the map enthusiasts among my readers maybe interested in:
You can download versions of the map though the good ones are quite big and slow to obtain if your internet connection’s not good.
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On the future of city streets
Here is another article, this time on the future of city streets. I had been sharing many of the ideas related in the article in the Transportation Engineering courses that I handle including those pertaining to the Complete Streets concept and road diets. The article is good reading material for my students who need to get out of the box (so to speak) of traditional civil engineering thinking regarding highways and streets. That is, we need to do more people-centred rather than car-centric designs.
Davidson, J. (2018) “What Is a City Street? And What Will It Become?”. New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/what-is-a-city-street-and-what-will-it-become.html [Last accessed: 2/2/2018].
Here is a photo I took in Iloilo City a couple of years ago showing the bikeway along the Diversion Road. The facility then was underutilized but was supposed to represent, along with the Promenade along the river and the redevelopment of the old airport site in Mandurriao, the revitalisation of the city. Meanwhile, there have been little done for the downtown streets.
Iloilo City provides a good example of the need to have a more holistic transformation rather than have some exhibition or demonstration pieces for inclusive transport here and there.
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On parking issues
I am sharing this article on parking issues written by an acquaintance:
Litman, T. (2018) “Fun Parking Facts,” Planetizen.com, https://www.planetizen.com/node/96957?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-01292018&mc_cid=9256109649&mc_eid=9ccfe464b1 [Last accessed 1/31/2018].
Todd talks about parking in general and then goes into the details of issues including the costs of parking and how the allocation of land to provide for parking spaces has practically robbed us of more efficient and valuable use of such spaces. Of course, the article is about the experiences in the US and Canada but the issues are very much relevant to highly urbanised cities in the Philippines as well. Then, there are also the deficiencies of our National Building Code and its implementation, as well as local governments issuing ordinances or executive orders that may or may not improve the parking situation in their constituencies. How is parking in your area?
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Congestion along C-6 and potential for a public transit corridor
We begin February with a post on a road that’s becoming more popular as a major (as opposed to alternate) route to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and Makati CBD – Circumferential Road 6. I took the following photo at the approach to the Nagpayong Bridge that is current has only 2 lanes (1 per direction). Another bridge is being constructed along the existing one that will increase capacity for the Pasig River crossing to 2 lanes per direction. This is similar to what was done to the Barkadahan Bridge crossing the Manggahan Floodway in Taytay, Rizal.
The volume of road vehicle traffic is steadily increasing along C-6. The adjacent land use offers a lot of potential for development (hopefully planned) that will feed more traffic along what will become a major thoroughfare in the near future. The land I am referring to are the reclamations on the side of Laguna de Bai along C-6 that are under the jurisdiction of Taguig and similar developments on the opposite side on what was once swampy or marshlands. One wonders if Taguig has a plan for all this or if the city is turning a blind eye and just letting developers do what they want. Most seem to be residential subdivisions and industries-related with a sprinkling of mainly small to medium-sized commercial developments.
Again, I think national and local governments should consider making this a public transport corridor by introducing formal public transport in the form of a scheduled bus service stretching from, say, Bicutan Interchange to Taytay Public Market. The demand along this corridor is steadily rising and only a better connection to C-5 limits an even steeper increase in traffic volume along C-6. The time is now in order to condition commuters about the system and to the unwanted congestion experienced along major roads in the metropolis.
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On airport runway names
There’s an interesting article on runway renaming that appeared on Wired. Ever wondered what those numbers on airport runways are about? Well, they represent the runway’s orientation, which is influenced by many factors among them the magnitude and dominant directions of winds. Historical wind data are collected and translated into a wind rose, which looks very much like a compass, and is used to determine a suitable orientation for a runway.
Davies, A. (2018) Thank the planet’s shifty magnetic poles for runway renaming, http://www.wired.com, https://www.wired.com/story/airports-rename-runways-magnetic-shift/?CNDID=37243643&mbid=nl_011918_daily_list3_p2 [Last accessed 1/21/2018].
NAIA’s main runway is 06-24 or 24-06 depending on the take-off or landing direction. Does it need renaming, too?
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Tacloban City waterfront
While going around the city’s downtown area last week to inspect the work of our surveyors, we decided to take a break at a fast-food restaurant near the port. This branch of the fast-food chain offered nice views of the city’s waterfront and I took a few photos that I share below:
A vendor’s cart located at the road behind the fast-food restaurant – the road is used by public utility vehicles as an informal terminal and you will seldom see vehicles passing through it.
A large outrigger sits at the port. These vessels
Freighters and cranes at Tacloban’s port
A ship arriving at Tacloban
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Overnight parking rates at NAIA T3 – some updates
I recently posted about the new parking rates at NAIA Terminal 3. I took this photo last night as we exited the Terminal 3 parking lot after our delayed arrival from a domestic trip.
There’s no mention in the signs about overnight rates. When asked about the latter, the staff at the booth simply replied that the information posted are their new parking rates. I assume this is just for Terminal 3 as that is what the signs stated and perhaps because only T3 has a multi-level parking facility. The other three terminals only have open parking lots. It’s easy to calculate your parking fees should you opt to leave your vehicles at the T3 multi-level building. If you find it expensive then perhaps you can just take public transport or have someone drop you off (and pick-up later).
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Tacloban downtown in the early mornings
Mobilizing surveyors for traffic data collection in Tacloban City’s downtown, I took the opportunity to take some photos before 6:00AM. This was before most people were at work or school on the first good weather day in the city after a week of heavy rains that brought floods and landslides to parts of the city. Schools at all levels had been suspended earlier this week with government offices also closed last Monday.
Zamora Street towards southeast and M.H. Del Pilar Street
Zamora Street towards northwest and Salazar Street
Justice Romualdez Street to southwest and M.H. Del Pilar Street
A lone cyclist along Justice Romualdez Street
There’s something about coming out to walk in the early morning in cities like Tacloban. You catch a city at a time before all the action happens, when everything seems so peaceful and calm when you see more people walking and cycling than motor vehicles dominating road space. That serenity should serve as an inspiration for what should be the vision for a city in order for it to retain its soul rather than lose it in what can be nightmarish traffic and transport conditions. Tacloban’s downtown holds so much promise for revitalisation but among the issues that need to be addressed is traffic-related. The city needs to recover spaces for pedestrians and cyclists while ensuring efficient traffic circulation for motor vehicles, particularly public transport. There seems to be spaces available for road diets and the creation of safe paths for people, and such design challenges need to be taken on in order to transform the downtown area into an example of sustainable transport.
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Another crash along NLEX – losing control?
We were returning from Clark last week when we chanced upon a crash site along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). We already suspected this as we approached a build-up of traffic along the southbound direction where there is usually free-flowing traffic. Here are some photos of an overturned vehicle on the median. It seems like it is the only vehicle involved as there were no other vehicle in the vicinity that could have been involved. However, it is possible that there was another vehicle involved in a situation where the overturned vehicle’s driver lost control after interacting with the other vehicle. Obviously both vehicles could have been traveling at high speeds (they are on an expressway) so this could have been an example where the combination of speeding and weaving in traffic led to an overturned vehicle (i.e., one lost control).
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Caught (up) in traffic 