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Good Transit Is Simple: Lessons in Good Route Design
Here is a quick share of an article on good route design:
Source: Good Transit Is Simple: Lessons in Good Route Design
I won’t be posting a quote from the article as there is really no summary to it. The article identifies the characteristics of a good transit route as well as the “don’t’s” or “no – no’s”.
More Buses, Fewer Riders? Thoughts on the Ridership vs Coverage Tradeoff
Here is a quick share of an article on ridership vs. coverage:
Source: More Buses, Fewer Riders? Thoughts on the Ridership vs Coverage Tradeoff
Basically, there is that question of whether planners or decision makers should prioritize ridership over coverage? Or should it be the other way around? The article provides a detailed discussion of the trade-offs. Perhaps this is again a case of determining which is more suitable for your city?
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Grab carpool?
I saw this sign at Ayala30 earlier today.
Is Grab going into carpooling? This certainly is not new as at I recall at least one company, Wunder, that tried to make a foothold in Metro Manila back in 2017. It folded after an unsuccessful run that a friend described as dating app masquerading as a TNVS. Seriously though, facilitating carpooling is not an easy task as there are security, safety and trust concerns here that need to be overcome. Perhaps it can be successful with office mates or schoolmates?
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Still towards a car-oriented future?
Saw this photo being circulated on social media.
Again, there are many versions of this including the original from a town in Germany that compared 50 people on cars, a bus and on bicycles. The bottom line in the latest images (do these qualify as memes?) is that all these efforts in developing the car, whether regarding the engine or fuel, or perhaps autonomy or connectivity related, ends up being still car-oriented or car-centric. I
t doesn’t really solve our transport problems despite what is being packaged as environmentally friendly. The discussions about this is timely and relevant as electric and hybrid cars are now quickly replacing conventional ones. And there’s a kicker for those driving in Metro Manila, hybrid and electric vehicles are exempted from the travel demand management scheme that is number coding.
How do we veer away from this temptation from technology? How do we keep mode shares in favor of active and public transportation? How do we influence mode choice for the latter options?
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First impressions of In Drive
There’s another TNVS service operating and competing with Grab. I heard about In-Drive from friends who regularly take Grab when they are in a hurry and opt out of their usual public transport options. They relate that In-Drive was cheaper than Grab based on their most recent bookings. They also said it was easy to book a ride with In-Drive.
And so I downloaded the app and finally had an opportunity to try them as I traveled between UP Diliman and Ortigas Center. I was able to book a ride immediately and it was less expensive compared to Grab. But that was just one booking so I had to try it another time. On my return trip, the same happened and I was able to get the same result with a cheaper booking than Grab.
One time I had to travel home from my office in UP after my evening class, I decided to try this again. Here are the screenshots for my evening ride. The first image is for Grab and the second for In Drive. The routes indicated in the maps are the same. Noticeably different are the estimated travel times (73 minutes for Grab vs. 64 minutes for In Drive) and fares (at least 556 pesos for Grab vs. 472 pesos for In Drive). The choice here was easy – In Drive.
My experiences so far indicate that In Drive was indeed cheaper than Grab. For the last example, it also indicated a shorter travel time. But that’s just me and a few bookings. It is worth studying or exploring further if indeed In Drive, in general, provides for less expensive travel. Other circumstances or conditions can be considered including the origins and destinations for the bookings, the time of day or day of the week, and so on. These are necessary to really have an objective and conclusive comparison of the two.
There’s another option that’s been getting some buzz recently among my friends and students. A taxi company with a full electric car fleet is also now available and competing with the TNVS companies. I will write about Green GSM very soon!
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Traffic congestion along EDSA
I’ve taken some photos of EDSA traffic as well as the EDSA Carousel buses. Here are the more recent EDSA photos I took as I traveled from Makati to Quezon City after serving as a panelist in the Energy Transitions Dialogue last Wednesday.
I took this photo as we passed Guadalupe. I like this in the sense that it shows the clear ROW for the EDSA Carousel buses. One wonders why most of these motorists would prefer to drive their vehicles rather than take the bus or the MRT.
You can see in the photo that EDSA’s northbound side is clogged as far as the eye could see. If you check the image under the MRT bridge, it shows the southbound side was also congested. These photos were taken around 4 PM so this was still an hour before most people would be going home from work.
I mentioned in my comments at the panel that one consequence of giving number coding exemption to electric and hybrid vehicles is that this further diminishes the effectiveness (is it still effective?) of the MMDA’s number coding scheme. I don’t have the stats of how many EV’s and hybrids are registered and running in Metro Manila. Those numbers combined with actual counts will tell us how they are impacting traffic. That would be a nice topic for a paper. 🙂
The photos pretty much describe the transport situation in Metro Manila. Many of our major cities will be heading this way unless they improve their public transportation fast. If they do, then public transport mode share will be sustained if not increased. Metro Manila’s is already being eroded by inefficient public transport, motorcycles (including taxis) and perhaps unintentionally, electric and hybrid vehicles.
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Competition for Grab?
Friends have been talking about the two new options that they say should rival and compete with Grab. These are another ride hail company and, interestingly, a taxi company. That ride hail company is In Drive and the taxi company is Green GSM.
Green GSM vehicle dashboard showing the taxi meter details
The observation and consensus are that either is cheaper than Grab. My personal experience is that they are cheaper than Grab and substantially so. What does this mean? Probably that more people will eventually discover and experience the same and Grab’s ridership will decline. By how much? We don’t know that yet. What we know is that Grab’s most significant competition now are the motorcycle taxis like Angkas and Joyride. Move It is Grab’s response to the other two after it was prevented by government to compete directly with the two. More details in future posts this September.
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Is it possible to have zero traffic deaths in a year?
Is it possible to have zero traffic deaths in a year? Is it even probable? As it turns out, yes. Here’s an article on what Helsinki did in order to make this a reality:
Andrei, M. (August 1, 2025) “Helsinki went a full year without a traffic death. How did they do it?” ZME Science, https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/helsinki-went-a-full-year-without-a-traffic-death-how-did-they-do-it/ [Last accessed: 8/19/2025]
To quote from the article:
“A lot of factors contributed to this, but speed limits are one of the most important,” said Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer with the city’s Urban Environment Division.
More than half of Helsinki’s streets have a speed limit of 30 km/h (approximately 20 mph). Half a century ago, the city barely had half of its area with a 50 km/h limit (30 mph). They gradually worked to reduce the speed limit, especially around schools and kindergartens.
Smarter street design also played a key role. Pedestrian and cycling infrastructure was prioritized for upgrades in recent years. More and more people started using public transit or bikes, or just walking. Substantial investments also made public transit more efficient and reliable.“Public transport in Helsinki is excellent, which reduces car use, and with it, the number of serious accidents,” Utriainen noted.
Another key component was bringing the police on board. Helsinki introduced automated traffic cameras and enforcement systems, which also helped bring down reckless driving.”
An aerial view of the PNR’s rail revival
I would just like to share a few photos I took while our plane was turning towards our Bicol destination upon take off from NAIA.
I will again pose the following questions to my readers: will the NSCR become the game changer it’s supposed to be for both long distance travel and commuting (super commuting for some cases)? Will it decongest McArthur Highway and NLEX? Will there be a significant shift from car use to rail? Or will those taking road-based public transport be the ones mainly shifting to rail?
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Is there really a shortage of public transportation in Metro Manila? – Part 1 – Introduction
I will be doing a series of articles here on public transportation. More specifically, I will try to answer the question in the main title of the series – Is there really a shortage of public transportation in Metro Manila?
The quick answer probably is “yes” but we need to examine this concern from different perspectives and reasons so we can be objective about the “why” part of the shortage. Shortage may mean a real lack in terms of the number of public utility vehicles (PUVs) with approved franchises or perhaps the number actually operating on any given day. These two are actually different because it is possible to have fewer PUVs operating compared to the approved number or to have more PUVs operating than the approved number. The latter means there are “colorum” or illegal operations (i.e., vehicles providing public transport services without franchises).
Among the reasons why there is a perceived shortage of public transportation are as follows:
- Fewer than the number of franchises approved are operating.
- PUVs are not able to make a reasonable turnaround (e.g., due to traffic congestion).
- PUV drivers and operators refusing to operate their vehicles.
- Other factors.
- Any combination of the above including “all of the above.”
I hope I can write about these in a manner that can be easily understood – in layman’s terms.
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Caught (up) in traffic 