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Another roadblock for active transport?
The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) recently released what they claim to be their counts of bicycle traffic along major roads in Metro Manila from 2020 to 2023.
These are supposed to be official data as it is issued by the government agency in-charge of traffic management for Metro Manila roads (aside from its other functions and roles). What are not stated, and are actually very important details, are the locations of the counts and when the counts were conducted. The Traffic Engineering Center (TEC) that was under the DPWH and currently with the MMDA used to publish traffic volume maps for major roads in Metro Manila. So along EDSA, for example, the volume per section are shown on the map. The same for other major roads like Commonwealth, Quezon Avenue and SLEX. The thicker lines mean higher volumes along those sections, and vice versa. However, they did not consciously count bicycles (only motor vehicles) and perhaps MMDA only started counting during the pandemic (i.e., 2020). So there is no one value to represent a road. And counts vary over time of day, day of the week and even throughout the year (i.e., monthly variations).
There were many reactions to the MMDA’s posting of the data and most were critical and even derided the agency for what to them appeared to be inaccurate data. The problem is that it seems there are no other counts that can validate and perhaps refute the MMDA data. Previous bike counts were not conducted according to how the MMDA and DPWH count vehicles. That is, counts are typically done over a 14 or 16-hour period and ideally on several days in a year. Expansion and conversion factors are applied based on established stations along major roads that are supposed to have more frequent if not continuous counts. This methodology is how Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) is computed. Call it car-centric if you like but the methodology is very much applicable to bicycles as well. Peak hour counts for bikes are not enough and the peak hour factor for motor vehicles does not apply to bicycles (if this is to be used to expand/convert peak volumes to daily values). In fact, if you go into the math, there should be a peak hour factor for each type of vehicle considering each vehicle’s volume will vary differently over time. So yes, the solution here is to conduct bicycle counts according to how MMDA or DPWH counts vehicles and these should be done along several stations along major roads (e.g., those in the table above) to validate the MMDA counts.
More on this topic in the next post!
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Article share: on making more affordable neighborhoods
I’ve been commenting about how transportation cannot be isolated and the need to relate it to other factors such as housing or home location choice. The latter though is also affected by other factors as well that affect the affordability of homes near the city centers or CBDs where workplaces and schools are located. The result of course is sprawl or the encouragement of sprawl. Private companies take advantage of this or contribute to this ‘encouragement’ by developing land farther away from the center. Thus, for Metro Manila’s case, many people reside in the peripheral provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite. There are even those who choose to reside in Pampanga, Bataan and Batangas.
Kayatekin, C.S. and Sanmiguel, L.U. (April 16, 2024) ” ‘Urban form’ and the housing crisis: can streets and buildings make a neighborhood more affordable?” The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/urban-form-and-the-housing-crisis-can-streets-and-buildings-make-a-neighbourhood-more-affordable-224108 [Last accessed: 4/23/2024]
Quoting from the article:
“Our main finding was that the bottom-up districts we looked at had, overall, more small-scale apartments. The reason is simple: they had more small-scale buildings, built on small-scale plots. Once divided into apartments, this produces small apartments – homes in the bottom-up areas were 10% to 23.1% smaller than their top-down counterparts. This also made their real estate markets for small homes more competitive, and therefore more affordable.
However, our study showed there is nothing inherently magical about bottom-up areas. Their more intricate housing stock has little to do with the layout of streets and blocks, and a lot to do with how that land is built upon.
Plot size appears to be the deciding factor: the districts with greater numbers of small buildings built on small plots supported a denser and more affordable housing stock, regardless of whether they were top-down or bottom-up.
Older bottom-up areas seem to naturally lend themselves to having more small-scale plots. This is likely due to the incremental development of these areas, and the complex land ownership patterns that developed as a result. However, there is no reason why a top-down area cannot be designed to replicate these characteristics.”
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Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Here is a quick share of another very informative article that discusses the importance of proximity and more dense development in order to reduce car dependence.
Source: Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Here are some excerpts from the article:
“This shows that proximity is much more important than mobility in providing accessibility: location, location, location. For the last century, our transportation planning practices have contradicted this principle. Transportation agencies built urban highways that destroyed and degraded accessible and multimodal neighborhoods to benefit suburban motorists. This was racist and classist, but the mechanism was the way that transportation planners valued increased traffic speeds, measured as travel time savings, while ignoring the loss of accessibility imposed on urban neighborhood residents.
Of course, many other factors affect people’s transportation and neighborhood preferences. Some people need their cars for work or after-work activities, and not everybody can bicycle or use transit even if it is available. However, surveys such as the National Association of Realtor’s National Community Preference Survey indicate that many people would prefer living in more compact, walkable neighborhoods than they currently do but cannot due to a lack of supply.”
Such articles are a must read for those who want to understand why government needs to invest in land at or near the CBDs, and develop that land so people will not need to reside far from their workplaces and schools. Truly, there are many other factors affecting transport preferences or mode choice. Housing is one such factor that we continue to treat separately from transport. It is very (prohibitively) expensive to buy or rent in the city particularly in or near the CBDs. The result is people opting to purchase or rent homes in the suburbs. It doesn’t help that developers are also actively promoting subdivisions there and therefore are contributing to sprawl that puts so much pressure on transportation systems.
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On kamote riders
Much has been written and reported about the so-called ‘kamote’ riders. These are motorcyclists who have the propensity for risky behavior including reckless maneuvers on the road. Such often places them in harm’s way whether they are conscious about the actions or not. I see them everyday during my commutes including but not limited to those who counterflow, speed, race, zig-zag through moving traffic, and use the bicycle lanes or pedestrian sidewalks.
The not so obvious kamote rider positioning himself at the downspout of a concrete mixer.
Not all motorcycle riders are kamote. However, there is a significant number of them out there that put other road users in risky situations. They also contribute to a lot of damage to property as evidenced by a lot of vehicles, especially cars, that have the signature scratches, dinks and dents after being sideswiped or bumped by motorcycles. Such behavior can actually be corrected if the Land Transportation Office (LTO) would be stricter with licensing – requiring more in terms of rider training and certification as well as testing. Traffic law enforcement is also critical here because behavior change can only be done and effective if enforcers are firm. A friend made the observation that law enforcers themselves are the first to violate rules and regulations or bend them in their favor. That sends a wrong signal and would only encourage more ‘pasaway’ and ‘kamote’ riders.
Of course, there are also kamote drivers and cyclists. But those are the topics for future posts.
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Lower speed limits may not slow drivers, a before-and-after study shows
I am sharing this article on drivers not reducing their speeds after speed limits have been lowered along certain roads. My first reaction after reading the article is that it is that perhaps in the US case, the after study was conducted quite early and before people have become aware, understood and adjusted to the lower speed limits. The responses or reactions to lower speed limits (particularly those posted or on signs) may vary among cities and countries. In the Philippines, where drivers and riders appear to be oblivious to speed limits, other interventions may be required including some types of traffic calming devices. This is very much a concern particularly in school zones where children are exposed to the risks of being run over by motor vehicles speeding along the roads and not minding the speed limits in the area.
Here is the Research report:
Source: Lower speed limits may not slow drivers, a before-and-after study shows
On the current issue about 2 and 3-wheeled electric vehicles
Electric vehicles are again in the news due to the proposed policies regarding them that the government is planning to implement. These include banning them from national roads and requiring their registration as well as their drivers having licenses. While it seems simple enough to many, there are complexities involved here due to the provisions of a law incentivizing the e-vehicle adoption and use.
Most recently, the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines or eVAP released a statement regarding the proposed policies on electric vehicle use. Here is their press release, which is available from their official Facebook page:
I tend to agree with the eVAP statement more than the stand of other organizations or entities. Perhaps its because I know many people behind eVAP (at one time I was one of their advisers) and trust that their statement is based on informed discussions not just among themselves but their partners and cooperators among different sectors including the government.
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Article share: on subsidies to public transportation
Here’s a nice article that presents arguments for subsidies to support transit or public transportation:
Wilson, K. (February 5, 2024) “Study: Subsidizing Transit Actually Makes It More Efficient,” Streets Blog USA, https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/02/05/study-subsidizing-transit-actually-makes-it-more-efficient [Last accessed: 2/18/2024]
Subsidies to public transportation can be quite tricky and may require quite a balancing act. There seems to be few options outside of the straightforward subsidies national and local governments in the Philippines provide. Rail transit, for example, is heavily subsidized but these are rare for road-based public transportation. The concept of service contracting has been considered but it also has a few variations. While there seems to have been a proof of concept tested during the pandemic, it required so much funds that government apparently lost interest (i.e., the funds were also needed by other sectors). Local governments meanwhile, or at least those that had resources, decided to operate their own public transport (e.g., Quezon City bus).
To quote from the article:
“Newmark’s study doesn’t definitively determine why, exactly, high subsidies seem to correlate with better efficiency and transit agencies collecting more fares, but he has some theories. Some systems, he says, use subsidies to increase service frequency or install dedicated lanes to speed routes up along heavily-utilized corridors — and riders are responding, predictably, by showing up in droves. (Route expansion can help, too, he said, but only if agencies expand service to places “where there’s actual demand.”) Others use subsidies to keep ticket prices low, but not to eliminate fares outright, which Newmark argues is a smart move.
“People value stuff they pay for, and they pay for stuff they value,” Newmark added. “An underlying point in this paper is that transit offers something [valuable], and it’s worth trying to capture that value, whether through fares or in other ways.”
If transit networks and the taxpayers who support them can get that recipe right, it could create a virtuous cycle.
“If people see the benefits [of subsidies], that may make them more willing to invest [their taxpayer dollars],” he adds. “Good transit leads to a real social movement for more subsidies.” “
What do you think about subsidies to public transport in the Philippine setting? Of course, we are referring to ‘formal’ public transportation here. There are many ‘informal’ or paratransit modes like tricycles and non-motorized pedicabs. There are also motorcycle taxis providing services or filling in the gaps in transport services.
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Zamboanga’s first flyover
We passed by the construction site of Zamboanga City’s first flyover at the intersection of the Pan Philippine Highway (AH 26) and Veteran’s Avenue. I recall there was a lot of pressure from DPWH for the city to approve its construction. The previous mayor didn’t want to approve the project because the perception was that it was not required and there were other options to consider before a flyover was to be constructed. However, many people including the then congressman and now mayor probably thought the flyover would be the solution to the congestion experienced at the intersection. Add to that the perception that the flyover is also somewhat a symbol of progress.
We won’t know until its completion and the ‘normalization’ of traffic in the area to determine whether the flyover has ‘solved’ traffic congestion in the area. The problem with this approach to ‘solving traffic’ is that it is usually a short-lived alleviation of a symptom of the real problem, which is transportation. Zamboanga City has deferred rationalization of public transport routed despite analysis and plans pointing to a streamlined and optimized transportation system if this was pursued. The City commissioned a Transportation and Traffic Management Plan Study in the previous administration but the plan and its recommendations have been shelved, another example of such being casualties of a change in administration of an LGU.
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On urban noise
We open February with an article share. The article is about noise in urban areas. Not surprisingly, most noise comes from transportation and the solutions mentioned in the article not only addresses transportation noise but at the same time addresses other concerns about transportation, including safety.
Durand-Wood, E. (January 25, 2024) “Why Are Cities So Noisy? And Can We Do Anything About It?“ Strong Towns, https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2024/1/25/why-are-cities-so-noisy-and-can-we-do-anything-about-it [Last accessed: 2/2/2024]
To quote from the article:
“In 2011, the WHO set recommendations for daytime and nighttime environmental noise levels, and found the maximum safe noise level for daytime is 55db (somewhere between moderate rain and normal conversation) and at night, 40db (about the level of a quiet library). Beyond these levels, prolonged exposure to environmental noise has been shown to cause health problems, and not just hearing-related ones.”In 2011, the WHO set recommendations for daytime and nighttime environmental noise levels, and found the maximum safe noise level for daytime is 55db (somewhere between moderate rain and normal conversation) and at night, 40db (about the level of a quiet library). Beyond these levels, prolonged exposure to environmental noise has been shown to cause health problems, and not just hearing-related ones.
Until recently, most analysis related to urban noise has focused on noise as an annoyance or disruptor to humans. But with these new guidelines, there was an acknowledgement that too much environmental noise can actually have grave health consequences, noting that “at least one million healthy life years are lost every year from traffic-related noise in the western part of Europe.”
We now know that higher levels of environmental noise raise heart rate and blood pressure, cause harmful sleep interruptions, and are linked to cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cognitive impairment in children, among others. And as with environmental pollution, there are racial and socioeconomic disparities with noise pollution.
In a 2022 report, the United Nations identified urban noise pollution as a top environmental risk.”
Have you noticed how noisy it is in our cities? Many actually choose to live in the suburbs as the perception is its quieter especially during the night. The health risks due to noise are well-established as presented also in the article. However, there are ways to address this and reduce the noise, particularly the type attributed to transportation and traffic.
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On the Pasig River esplanade project
My news feed was full of articles on the Pasig River esplanade, or at least the recently completed section at the Manila Central Post Office building. This is a proof of concept type of project that hopes to be expanded or extended to cover both sides of the river much like the Iloilo River Esplanade project. If you are wondering what the section looked like before the project, here are two posts I wrote in 2012 that features a lot of photos of the Muelle del Rio:
These were way before the fire that damaged the Post Office building. However, even at that time, there were already calls for the renovation, even repurposing of the Post Office building. Such projects or proposal draw inspiration from Singapore where old buildings have been preserved and many repurposed (e.g., how about the Post Office building transformed into a hotel?). Perhaps such will breathe life and lead to a revival of this part of Manila?
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Caught (up) in traffic 