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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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What Public Transit Data Teaches Us About How People Use a City
I’m sharing an interesting article featured on The Atlantic Cities, one of our favorite sites on the internet. Enjoy!
What Public Transit Data Teaches Us About How People Use a City.
Luzon Avenue Flyover
The Luzon Avenue flyover spanning the width of Commonwealth Avenue is now open to two way traffic. Previously, only the northbound side was open, allowing vehicles to cross Commonwealth from Tandang Sora Ave./Katipunan Ave. to Luzon Ave. and towards Congressional Avenue. I took a few photos of the flyover and the vicinity of Luzon Avenue en route to NLEX a few days ago.
The Luzon Avenue flyover has a total of 4 lanes, divided by a median island.
The lamp posts indicate a well lighted road during night time. The pedestrian walkways on either side are quite narrow and I think the designers of the flyover could have widened this feature of the facility.
A view of Commonwealth Avenue from the flyover.
Along the other end of the flyover is Luzon Avenue, which has been widened to accommodate the flyover and the at-grade sections connecting to the QMC-bound side of Commonwealth Avenue.
A pedestrian overpass was constructed at the foot of the Luzon Ave. flyover so pedestrians will not cross at this critical part of the flyover when vehicles would typically be picking up speed as they descend (or ascend on the other side) the flyover. There are still construction work along the northbound side of Luzon Avenue.
Luzon Avenue, which is a 6-lane, 2-way road divided by a median, is quite crowded with either side of the road occupied mostly by informal settlers. There is also an informal wet market (talipapa) along the road.
The pavement is elevated compared to the land on either side of the road. There are stores and shops set up by those living along the road.
Side streets are narrow and could probably accommodate only cars or small vehicles like tricycles (also shown in the photo traveling along Luzon Ave.
Some stalls are just along the street like this fruit stand that’s already on the carriageway. The photo also shows a better view of a side street with parked vehicles along one side of the road.
Approach to Congressional Avenue – there is another pedestrian overpass near the junction with Congressional. Note the height of the plant box on the median that is designed to discourage or minimize jaywalking across Luzon Ave.
Water works at the junction of Luzon Ave. and Congressional Ave. Luzon Ave. continues as a narrow 2-lane street towards the direction of Bgy. Holy Spirit.
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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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Rizal Avenue – Part 2: Tayuman to Pampanga Street
In the last post on Rizal Avenue, the featured photos show conditions under the LRT Line 1, which included visual evidence of certain issues like on-street parking, poor lighting and even sanitation (i.e., garbage) along the corridor. This post features more of the same and perhaps worse in some cases that are used as proof of the blight caused in part by the LRT superstructure. I say in part because LRT Line 1 is not wholly to blame for problems under and around it. Local governments and the private sector share responsibility for the decline of the areas within the direct influence of the rail line. Napabayaan. But of course, this does not absolve proponents of the LRT Line 1 for poor station design.
Approach to Tayuman Station along the northbound side of Rizal Avenue.
Tayuman Station – shown in the upper part of the photo is one end of the northbound platform.
Underneath the station, jeepneys clog the lanes as they load/unload passengers. LRT Line 1 stations are poorly designed for intermodal transfers (e.g., LRT to jeepney, LRT to bus, etc.).
Tayuman Road is a busy street in Manila that’s served by jeepneys connecting to major streets like Lacson Avenue to the east and Abad Santos and Juan Luna to the west. The photo shows a view to the east of the LRT Tayuman Station.
Approach to the junction with Herrera Street
Approach to Blumentritt Station – the station is named after Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian who was a close friend of the national hero Jose Rizal. The street leads to a large public market close to the station (near the intersection) that is also named after the fellow and one of the more crowded markets in the metropolis. There are many jeepney lines with Blumentritt as part of their routes.
Birds and other creatures being sold as pets around Blumentritt – many have been painted to attract children and other buyers curious at the colored birds.
Vendors line the Rizal Avenue, Blumentritt and the other side streets in the area, which is usually crowded no matter what day of the week it is.
Angry birds? A closer look reveals the birds as chicken chicks colored by the vendors to attract interest. Sadly, many of these do not survive to become full grown chickens and children (and adults) will be disappointed to discover later that the color comes off pretty quick when the chicks come in contact with water.
There is a PNR Blumentritt Station and unless there’s been some radical clean-up of the area, this is pretty much what you’d see around the station – garbage, dirt, informal settlers and other characters. The building behind the station is a public school.
The PNR Blumentritt Station has two platforms on either side of the double track. Security is quite lax and people, including children, cross the tracks freely. Fortunately, train service frequencies are quite low (about 1 per hour) so the risk of getting hit by a train is also low. The photo shows the view to the east of Rizal Avenue.
On the left side of Rizal Avenue is a scene where people are oblivious to the railways with some even doing their cooking between the tracks.
Blumentritt Avenue is a very crowded street with a public school (building at right) just across the public market (at left). There are many vendors lined along the street and people as just about everywhere and without regard to vehicular traffic.
Traffic congestion along Rizal Avenue is attributed mainly to the market and median barriers were constructed to reduce pedestrian crossings anywhere along the road. Commercial establishments line either side of Rizal Avenue, basically contributing to congestion in the area.
Commercial establishments plus customers plus paratransit equal to traffic congestion
16A busy side street in the Blumentritt area – there are no sidewalks so pedestrians and motor vehicles mix it up along the road.
Bulacan Street serves as an informal terminal for jeepneys. The road appears to be newly paved but there are no sidewalks and tents are found along the road often bearing the names of politicians sponsoring the tents for various purposes such as wakes and parties.
Intersection with Pampanga Street, just before Rizal Avenue and the LRT line turns towards Aurora Boulevard and proceed to Caloocan City and Monumento.
More on Rizal Avenue in future post…
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Rizal Avenue – Part 1: Carriedo – Bambang
Rizal Avenue stretches from Manila northward to Caloocan city from Carriedo to Monumento. What used to be one of the more cosmopolitan streets in Manila was transformed (some say blighted) by the construction of the elevated LRT Line in the early 1980’s. Carriedo, for example, used to be a popular shopping street along with Escolta. Those were times when there were none of the huge shopping malls now scattered in Metro Manila and people came to Manila to shop.
The following photos were taken while we traversed Rizal Avenue as part of a recon we were conducting for a project with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) back in 2011. I’m not sure if there have been any significant changes along Rizal Avenue and I am not aware of any recent programs to improve conditions under the LRT Line 1.
Approaching the LRT Line 1 Carriedo Station from the McArthur Bridge
Under Carriedo Station, one experiences first-hand what people have been saying about the area being blighted by the LRT 1 structure
Poorly lighted? It was broad daylight outdoors when we conducted the recon but underneath an LRT 1 Station it can get quite dark. Of course, aside from the need to improve illumination, perhaps authorities can also improve the environment including the cleanliness of the area under the station. A common complaint is garbage and there are those saying the area smells of piss (i.e., mapanghi).
Past Carriedo Station, it was brighter and perhaps the area can be developed so that stretches can be pedestrian friendly. Maybe there should also be restrictions on vehicle parking, which tends to make the area look congested. It would be good to have a strategically located multilevel facility in the area where most vehicles can park instead of along the streets as shown in the photo.
5More roadside parking plus the presence of tricycles contribute to traffic congestion in the area. People are everywhere walking and crossing anywhere. The arcades where they are supposed to walk along are mainly occupied by vendors or merchandise of stores/shops occupying the ground floors of the buildings along the street.
Each side of Rizal Avenue is surprisingly wide with 3 lanes per direction. One lane is effectively used for on-street parking while the other two are for general traffic. There are no lane markings at the time we passed by the area so there can be confusion as to lane assignments.
Approach to the junction with Recto Ave. and the LRT Line 2, which is also elevated and at the 3rd level as shown in the photo.
Rizal Ave.-Recto Ave. intersection – visible downstream in the photo is Doroteo Jose Station
Provincial bus terminal between Doroteo Jose and Bambang Stations
The Sta. Cruz district and particularly the Bambang area is well-known for shops selling medical equipment and supplies. Medical, nursing and other students of allied medical professions as well as professionals come to Bambang to purchase equipment and supplies from these shops, which offer items at lower prices.
LRT 1 Bambang Station
Rizal Ave.-Bambang St. intersection beneath the station
Two large government hospitals are located in the area between Bambang Station and Tayuman Station – San Lazaro Hospital and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center. Both are run by the Department of Health (DOH), which is located beside Jose Reyes.
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A. Bonifacio Avenue in Marikina
The main road leading to Marikina City from Quezon City is one that branches from Aurora Boulevard. A. Bonifacio Avenue is one of two roads diverging from Aurora, the other one being Marcos Highway. The avenue eventually becomes Sumulong Highway at its junction with Angel Tuazon Ave. (Gil Fernando Ave.) at the Blue Wave mall.
View from the overpass from Aurora Blvd to A. Bonifacio Ave. – in the horizon are the Sierra Madre mountains and closer to the flyover is of course a view of the Marikina Valley.
A. Bonifacio is a 4-lane, 2-way undivided road
Section at the exit from Riverbanks
A. Bonifacio Ave. is the main access road to Loyola Memorial Park and so it gets quite congested during the Undas period (All Saints and All Souls Days). The road and adjacent land is flood prone and along the road is the main gate to Provident Village, which was one of the most devastated private subdivisions during Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009 and the heavy rains of Habagat (southwest monsoon) in 2012.
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Quiapo, Manila
The Quiapo district of Manila is one of the oldest CBDs in the metropolis and is a major end point for public transport similar to Cubao and Divisoria. Quiapo is best known for its church, which is dedicated to the Black Nazarene, and one of the most visited by pilgrims in the Philippines along with Baclaran (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and Antipolo (Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage). Fridays are usually the most congested days in the area as it is the day designated for services for the Black Nazarene (Note: Wednesdays are for Baclaran.).
Underpass along Quezon Boulevard – the Far Eastern University is at the left while the bridge downstream is the elevated LRT Line 2 that is directly above Claro M. Recto Avenue. At right are commercial and residential buildings surrounding the Manila City Jail. The building at the right behind the LRT 2 is the Isetann mall.
Grade separation – the Quezon Blvd. underpass running beneath LRT Line 2 and Claro M. Recto Ave. has 3 lanes per direction.
The Intramuros-bound direction of Quezon Blvd. has five (5) lanes but these are confused due to the lack of lane markings. Effectively, there are only 4 lanes due to road-side parking and pedestrian activity. While many old buildings are designed in the arcade style where pedestrians are supposed to have right-of-way, these are usually occupied by merchandize, signs and other obstacles to pedestrian flow. As such, pedestrians walk along the carriageway as seen in the photo.
One of the side streets in Quiapo is Raon, popular for electronics and camera shops. People came and continue to come here for good deals on music players, karaoke machines, speakers, digital cameras and other electronic goods. However, one has to be attentive or alert as there are supposedly many snatchers and pickpockets in the area.
The Quiapo Church is a shrine dedicated to the Black Nazarene. The Feast Day every January attracts hundreds of thousands of people in a procession that now starts from the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park and ends at the church.
The giant screen usually shows ads by the sponsor, a major drugstore chain, and popular television shows. The screen is quite bright at night and you can see many people gathering around for when it features primetime TV shows.
Plaza Miranda in front of Quiapo Church has been the site of many events including the infamous bombing of a political gathering in 1972 that led to the imposition of Martial Law in September of that year. Common around the plaza are vendors peddling herbal medicines, religious items, and even religious services like praying for the client in exchange for a small fee. There are also fortune tellers and other characters.
Past the Quiapo church is the ramp towards the Quezon Bridge. Underneath and faintly visible in the photo is an underpass along which is Carlos Palanca Street that leads to Rizal Avenue in the northwest and P. Casal in the southeast. There are many shops along this road where the Quinta Market is also located at the corner of Quezon Blvd. and Palanca Street. Among these shops are those selling handicrafts and the notorious ones selling bootleg DVD movies.
Approach to Quezon Bridge, one of the oldest bridges in Manila spanning the Pasig River. It’s steel truss design has been an example used in many civil engineering and architecture classes.
A closer look at Quezon Bridge.
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Streets of Intramuros: Calle Real del Palacio
I haven’t had a good chance to take photos of the streets in Intramuros, Manila. The historic streets within what was for hundreds of years regarded as Manila deserves a more detailed treatment. Recently, I have been able to go around a little bit thanks to meetings at the DPWH and a lecture at the Mapua Institute of Technology. I took full advantage of the opportunity to take photos along some streets along the way to my meetings and am posting these in a few articles about what I think should be a good example for heritage conservation including the street names and old structures within the walled city.
The original name of Andres Soriano Jr. Avenue, the main road stretching from Plaza Mexico along the Pasig River to A. Bonifacio Drive in the Port Area, was Calle Real del Palacio. I believe they should have stuck with the original name in order to preserve this piece of history. Our politicians have a penchant for renaming streets after their kin, heroes, or for purposes like claiming that we should exorcise names associated with our colonial past. While the latter seems to be a basis for changing names elsewhere (not just in the Philippines), perhaps the remedy here is to still retain the original name under the new one.
Ruins of the aduana or customs building, visible upon turning from the Muelle Del Rio at Plaza Mexico towards Andres Soriano Jr. Ave.
The road is a four lane, two-way street. It is usually congested because of public transport loading and unloading operations (usually in the middle of the street) and roadside parking, which is tolerated. In fact, there are parking aides in charge of collecting fees from drivers parking along the streets. Intramuros is host to a lot of offices, commercial establishments and schools – all major traffic generators that attract so many vehicles thereby requiring a lot of parking space. The building to the left is the reconstructed building where the old ayuntamiento used to stand.
The new building where the ayuntamiento was is now supposed to be the new offices of the Bureau of Treasury.
The open space at left is the along which are many parked cars is the Plaza Roma, which is in front of the Manila Cathedral. The building right after the plaza is where the Palacio del Gobernador used to be. It is now the offices of the Bureau of Treasury.
Cabildo Street, one of the side streets from across the Plaza Roma, which ultimately leads to Fort Santiago.
6Another look at the building where the old Governor’s Palace used to be. Visible downstream along the Soriano Ave. is the gate leading to the Simeon de Anda monument located at a roundabout along A. Bonifacio Drive.
At right is Gen. Antonio Luna Street, which is another main road that has one end at Puerto Real, the southernmost gate of the Intramuros and the other at Fort Santiago. Curiously, this road was also called Calle Real del Palacio as it passed in front of the Palacio del Gobernador.
A view along Gen. Antonio Luna Street towards Fort Santiago, which is a one-way street.
Western entrance to Intramuros along Soriano Ave. leads to Bonifacio Drive and the Port Area.
Arzobispo Street, which also leads to Fort Santiago but also passes along the Archbishop’s Palace, the office of the Archdiocese of Manila and with its southernmost end at San Agustin Church.
The Simeon de Anda monument at the Anda Circle along Bonifacio Drive.
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The streets and sidewalks of Melaka
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| View towards the plaza – the red building is part of the Christ Church complex but is now home of the Melaka Post Office |
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| The walkways reminded me of similar forms in Manila, Cebu and Iloilo, all old cities established during the Spanish Period when Melaka was under the rival Portuguese. |
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| The pavement was tiled but well-maintained |
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| Traffic was light so one could get a good shot of the street leading up to the plaza. |
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| The street leading to St. Francis Xavier made me imagine how old cities in the Philippines would have looked like if those cities made an effort to preserve heritage and controlled motor vehicle access to their street. |
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| Some buildings have been converted to restaurants and bars but they retained their nostalgic features and feel. |
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| Melaka made sure their signposts and lamps were designed consistent with the ambiance of the heritage city |
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| Another shot of the seemingly endless walkway beneath the buildings. |
Caught (up) in traffic 