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Common causes of traffic congestion along Philippine roads
As a follow-up to a previous post on traffic congestion, I am writing on some of the most basic causes of congestion along Philippine roads. I say most basic because these are the usual situations we see along the road as we commute. And these are also supposed to be easily solved or addressed by the most basic approaches – enforcement. Here are a couple of photos and commentaries on this matter.
Commuters occupying two lanes of the road as they wait for public transport along Marcos Highway in Pasig – PUVs like the jeepney in the photo stop in the middle of the road to load/unload passengers. Were there traffic enforcers/aides in the area? Sometimes. Were they doing their jobs? Definitely not. In many cases, I’ve seen enforcers using the congestion (i.e., slowed traffic) to apprehend number coding violators. Now, number coding is premised on motorists being discouraged from traveling during certain times of the day to reduce congestion from vehicle volume. In the photo above, it’s pretty clear that the problem isn’t number coding violators but the mayhem caused by public transport and commuters. Something that traffic enforcers/aides could have acted on and with regularity and persistence so that they can positively influence jeepney driver and commuters towards orderly conduct.
On-street parking and pedestrian activity along Manila roads – many cities such as Manila are guilty of not having any serious initiatives to address on-street parking. In many cases, its tolerated particularly in commercial areas as local governments don’t like to engage business in what they assume to be the small issue (or non-issue) of parking. In the case of pedestrians, it is a behavioral thing that requires a bit more effort than police or enforcer visibility (or the occasional apprehension). As a result, people will generally cross wherever they want and walk along the carriageway, not minding their safety. Of course, such behavior is encouraged by the absence of space for walking as vehicles, merchandise and other stuff occupy space that’s supposed to be for pedestrians.
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The Streets of Manila: Dagupan Street and side streets
After reading on the brouhaha caused by a negative description of Manila in a novel written by a popular author, I decided to look for some recent photos I took while en route to a meeting in Manila. We were going to the Philippine National Railways (PNR) office in Tutuban for a meeting and I couldn’t help but take a few photos along Tayuman and Dagupan Streets, trying to find “proof” of the “hell” that is supposed to be Manila. While I have some comments myself, I will leave it to my readers what they see from the photos and make their own comments.
View of the PNR tracks from along Tayuman Street
Intersection of Tayuman Street and Dagupan Street – the intersection has traffic lights but it can be confusing with pedicabs generally not following the signals.
Dagupan Street is a 4-lane road that serves a predominantly residential area across from the PNR station and depot in Tutuban. And where there are residential areas in Manila, there are pedicabs, or non-motorized 3-wheelers like the ones shown with the motor tricycle (center) in the photo.
The two shoulder lanes are occupied by parked vehicles; effectively reducing the capacity of the street for traffic. In addition to the on-street parking, motorists would have to deal with the pedicabs whose drivers will not give way and seem not to care about their impeding the flow of traffic. It seems the area had or were having their fiesta when we passed by and with the May elections, many politicians took advantage by illegally placing banners and other campaign material with the fiesta banderitas.
Side streets along Dagupan Street are all narrow and many appear to be one-way streets given that half of the carriageways are occupied by parked vehicles.
Some side streets appear to have dead ends like this one with a house in the middle of the road. In some cases, there are basketball courts or tents set-up for wakes in the middle of the streets. More illegal campaign materials by local politicians running for office in Manila are shown in the photo.
Another side street but with less vehicles parked along the road. Many residents are affluent enough to own vehicles but have no garages. The city tolerates on-street parking but not just for local roads like this one but even along major thoroughfares!
There’s not a few eateries, stores and other establishments along this street. Most if not all of these establishments take up road space for tables and supplies (like the soft drink cases in the photo). Among their customers are workers and pedicab drivers who park their vehicles on the road.
Along this street, some residents have allotted space for makeshift garages or extensions of their buildings. These can be in the form of tents or steel partitions that act to secure a vehicle.
A look at the PNR tracks from Tayuman Street downstream is in the general direction of Caloocan (part of what was Main Line North). The building on the right is a TESDA facility.
Coming soon: the streets of Intramuros.
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Crowded NAIA Terminal 1 arrival area
NAIA Terminal 1 remains as the main international terminal for Manila. This is where most international airlines are served. Terminal 2 is exclusively for Philippine Airlines while Cebu Pacific and All Nippon Airways are the only airlines with international flights via Terminal 3. And so it’s easy to see that Terminal 1 can get quite crowded especially as one international arrival comes after another during the peak hours of the airport. One A320 aircraft alone can carry about 150 passengers and wide bodied aircraft like the the A330’s and A340’s can carry more than 250 passengers each. Even larger B777’s and B747s carry more than 350 and 400 passengers, respectively. These are just too many for Terminal 1 to handle resulting in long queues at the immigration counters, crowded baggage claim areas and long queues again for customs. These passengers eventually converge along the arrival area driveway across from the well-wishers’ waiting area (i.e., a two story building) behind which is the open parking area of the airport.
When flights arrive one after another in short headways, the terminal becomes too congested from the immigration counters to baggage claim and the pick-up areas.
Well-wishers waiting for relatives or friends glance at the screen for information on arrivals while others look through the window to check out the people waiting along the driveway.
While others are seated, some people opt to stand at the windows, anticipating the arrival of relatives or friends. The second of the building that serves as the waiting area for well-wishers is air-conditioned but there open windows like the one shown in the photo. That window alone could cost a lot in terms of power consumption by the air-conditioning units.
The ground level is even more crowded and there’s always people wanting to cross over to the other side of the driveway to meet relatives as they arrive from the ramp. Airport security try their best to keep order but some people are quite insistent and in certain cases taunt or berate the guards for not letting them through. I think this behavior of people was quite unfair to the guards as the latter were only doing their jobs and its only right that they keep people from flooding the arrival driveway. It’s already too crowded and more people will only bring more mayhem if allowed to mix with the arriving passengers.
Terminal 1 was the subject of calls for renovations and an upgrade from what it is now, a bad first impression of the country. I remember a group of architects and designers came up with a plan to renovate Terminal 1 including improving the layout of the terminal and parking facilities. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) was supposedly tasked to follow through with this project but ended up offending people by bidding the project out. Another design firm was supposed to have won the bid but until now, there has been no activity related to this long-delayed major improvement. Perhaps there was hesitation as they agency struggles to decide whether NAIA should continue to serve as the main international gateway to the country? Well, it is certainly still the main gateway and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future as the prospects for Clark and other proposals remain hanging in the air. We should live with this reality and carry on what needs to be done to improve Terminal 1, and quickly!
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Poverty should not be entrusted to economists | Social Watch
Saw this article shared on Facebook. I thought it was a relevant piece with respect to a work I am currently doing, relating transport infrastructure and services with economic growth in the Philippines. With the release of the latest poverty statistics in the country late last month, there has been a lot of discussions regarding inclusive growth as poverty incidence across the country is still quite high though there have been gains in many provinces based on the statistics.
Poverty should not be entrusted to economists | Social Watch.
I suddenly remember the experience we had while doing field work in the island of Samar where we performed a road safety audit for a national road. While coordinating with the barangays along the highway for our traffic surveys, we observed that people were generally poor but in the financial sense – they didn’t have money and many didn’t have regular jobs. I say this because I would like to qualify the way we define poverty that is biased on the monetary aspect. From what we saw, people were not hungry as they had food like fruits and vegetables. Perhaps to get other items, they trade or barter what they have with what they needed (e.g., vegetables for rice, fish for rice, etc.). Still, the point is for these same people to generally benefit from the economic gains that is supposed to be experienced by the country. Is the growth trickling down to these people and therefore inclusive? Or is it enjoyed only by a few and especially our elite classes, and therefore exclusive? So far, what I have seen out there is the latter case and not the former.
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National Budget Memo No. 118
The Department of Budget and Management recently released the National Budget Memo No. 118 with the subject: Adoption of the Budget Priorities Framework in the Preparation of the FY 2014 Agency Budget Proposals. The Memo emphasizes “the need to prioritize the programs critical to the attainment of the desired outcomes for the 2014-2016 period.” In addition to the bottom-up budgeting (BUB) approach, the memo identified priority geographical areas for program convergence for the 2014 budget. It is important to note the focus of the government on inclusive growth and the convergence programs for infrastructure to support industry, agriculture and tourism, as well as significant mention of climate and disaster resilience for programs to be implemented by the government. Following is a link to the DBM site where a PDF copy of the memo can be downloaded:
DBM National Budget Memorandum No. 118
I’ve downloaded a copy and this may be downloaded here:
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Poverty Statistics in the Philippines
The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) of the Philippines recently released poverty statistics as of the first semester of 2012. The report is based on the outcomes of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in July 2012. Both agencies are under the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). The stats on poverty incidence are shown in the following link:
In relation to these poverty figures, the NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan issued the following statement:
STATEMENT OF SEC. BALISACAN AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE 2012 FIRST SEMESTER POVERTY STATISTICS
I am curious to see how much of family expenditures go to transport. Clearly, the state of the country’s transportation system is a significant factor in development and the government’s initiatives towards inclusive growth will not prosper if we continue to have inefficient transport across all modes for both people and goods.
UP Village transformation
UP Teachers Village in Quezon City is a good example of a residential area that has been transformed over a few years. This transformation was enabled mainly by its streets, particularly Maginhawa Street, being open to general traffic. Teachers Village roads are often used as short cuts between major roads like Commonwealth Avenue and C-5/Katipunan (via C.P. Garcia Street), and Elliptical Avenue, Kalayaan Avenue and V. Luna. Due to both significant foot and vehicle traffic, what used to be homes along the streets have become restaurants, shops, offices, or even schools. There are many cases of homeowners who have found their houses less livable due to the noise and air pollution attributed to traffic (Note: There are so many tricycles in the area.). These have sold their property to people who used it instead for business. Unfortunately, despite the approval of the local government of the changes in land use, most establishments clearly have not satisfied basic building code requirements such as those for parking and pedestrian facilities.
On-street parking along both sides of Maginhawa Street in Teachers Village
Schools and commercial establishments like restaurants and shops are found along Maginhawa Street. Most do not have adequate parking spaces for customers.
Maginhawa Street has been widened to accommodate more vehicular traffic. Unfortunately, widening the road has only led to more on-street parking as shown in the preceding photos. People also are often forced to walk along the carriageway because because sidewalks are usually blocked, with some establishments using the space for al frresco set-ups. Developments need to be inspected to check if they comply with basic requirements such as parking and pedestrian facilities. Development and land use changes can be justified but proponents must be made to comply with the minimum requirements of the National Building Code in order to mitigate potential impacts to the community.
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Streets of Olongapo: Rizal Avenue
Olongapo City is located in the Province of Zambales, the only city in that province, and beside the Subic Freeport. It is a pioneer in public transport service innovations in the form of the first initiative on the color-coding of jeepneys according to their routes. Despite what seemed to be forever being linked to the Freeport in terms of economic development, the city has enjoyed continued growth and is currently experiencing more challenges attributed to this growth. Among these challenges are those pertaining to traffic congestion and public transport services for the city. A Transportation and Traffic Management Plan Study was conducted by UP Diliman through the National Center for Transportation Studies and is up for formal adoption of the city.
Following are photos taken along the city’s main street, Rizal Avenue, where many of the city’s transport and traffic problems are manifested.
Cyclist pedaling along Rizal Avenue beside a yellow jeepney taking passengers at the designated stop at curbside. Downstream are parked vehicles along the road.
More parked vehicles at either side of Rizal Avenue effectively reducing road capacity for the 4-lane street.
On-street parking is a problem for the city as there are few, if any, off-street parking facilities in the city. On-street parking turnover is quite low since many of the parked vehicles are not clients or customers but establishment owners or managers.
Most of Rizal Avenue is undivided but there are median barriers along the section in front of the public market to reduce jaywalking among pedestrians.
The section in front of city hall – just across are many commercial establishments and on-street parking.
Another view of the Rizal Avenue, this time along the westbound side, with the the market on the left side. The yellow jeepneys are quite conspicuous and remind me of the UP Ikot jeepneys.
A monument to the Ulo ng Apo, from which the name of the city is said to be derived from, is right in the middle of a rotunda at a major intersection along Rizal Avenue. Around the rotunda are commercial establishments and a major provincial bus terminal.
There are designated stops for jeepneys along the avenue but these are often crowded out by parked vehicles. As a result, jeepneys could not maneuver properly and end up unloading/loading passengers in the middle of the road.
On-street parking along curves tend to impede the flow of traffic. There are also issues where electric posts like the one shown in the photo have not been transferred, posing risks to vehicular traffic.
Another example of a designated jeepney stop along the avenue where parked vehicles constrict maneuvering space for jeepneys.
A monument to the volunteers of Olongapo during the Mt. Pinatubo episode after the closure of the U.S. Naval Base in what is now a Freeport. I wonder if the building under construction in the photo has enough parking spaces for the traffic it generates.
More jeepneys and more on-street parking – there is a perception that there are too many (oversupply) of jeepneys. Note though that most PUJs in Olongapo are not the bigger 20 to 24 seater jeepneys we see in Metro Manila but the older, 16 to 18 seaters like the ones shown in the photo.
Some on-street parking spaces are “reserved” by establishments. I didn’t mention that on-street parking is free of charge and such situation probably encourages longer parking durations. Perhaps the city should seriously consider parking fees to reduce long-term parking and ensure smoother flow of traffic along its streets. There are examples of these parking schemes in other cities including Makati City that Olongapo can adopt and adjust.
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The Economic Case for Rail Subsidies
Today, I’m sharing a nice article on rail subsidies from The Atlantic Cities:
On license plates
More than 2 years ago, the current administration made an inspired move after the President mentioned in his inaugural speech that he was among those who didn’t like “wangwang” (sirens) and associated these with abusiveness, of feelings of entitlement among road users. The use of sirens and other similar devices tells people that the user is an “important” person whose time is more valuable than others.
Whatever happened to the drive against “wangwang” in all its forms? The proliferation of commemorative plates, for one, can be a form of “wangwang.” While the Land Transportation Office (LTO) came up with a memo a few years ago providing clear instructions on how the commemorative plate should be displayed (i.e., on top or above the legal plate), many have returned to the practice of replacing the license plate (hiding it) with the commemorative one. This is especially true for those plates bearing police, military, government, and other agencies or organizations that can be used to make traffic enforcers think twice about apprehending a motorist for legitimate traffic violations. One sees such plates everywhere screaming “PNP,” “CIDG,” “NBI,” “PMA,” “Prosecutor,” “Councilor,” etc. and you know these are statements that are meant to intimidate traffic enforcers, which is often denied by the guilty party.
Then there is also the abuse of special plates, particularly those supposedly assigned to lawmakers. How many people have “8” as their license plates? Do children or staff of senators and congressmen enjoy the same privileges as the elected official? In the past, plates bearing “8” also indicated the district represented by the person supposedly using the vehicle. And so you would know, for example, if the person happens to be from the 1st District of Iloilo or the 3rd District of Quezon City. The same goes for vehicles bearing “16” and other special plates indicating someone holding a high position in government. Nowadays, even family members and staff members of these officials use the special plates, thereby extending to them the courtesies usually given to elected or appointed officials like not being covered by the number coding scheme in Metro Manila. This should not be the case for such “extensions” if we are to enforce the law firmly and fairly.
In certain cases, worse are those who use neither license plates or authorized commemorative ones. There seems to be a proliferation of people using personalized, souvenir or replica plates from other countries. These are often used in lieu of the rear license plates. These are claimed to be harmless since traffic enforcers usually check only the front plates for registration and compliance to number coding. However, there are implications for when the driver and the vehicle are involved in incidents such as traffic violations or crashes (e.g., hit and run incidents). While witnesses would probably be able to describe the car, the license plate cannot be recorded. Therefore, it would be quite difficult to trace the vehicle’s ownership information that could be retrieved from the LTO’s computer records to identify the violator or suspect in an incident.
The legal plate is deliberately obscured on this one as it is hidden in the rear bumper.
The plate suggests one is driving in Europe rather than along C-5 somewhere in Pasig City
This one thinks he’s driving in Japan.
Perhaps the LTO and traffic enforcers who are deputized by the agency should also clamp down on these cases of violating RA 4136. The idea is to have a campaign similar to what was implemented to rid our roads of the annoying “wangwang” back in 2010. Such an initiative should help promote discipline on our roads in the sense that motorists would be more aware of traffic rules and regulations and that they cannot continue trying to circumvent basic laws.
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Caught (up) in traffic 