The mass transport crisis is real.
Millions of commuters in the National Capital Region (NCR) sufferinconvenient and inefficient travel every day. Average commuting time was around37 minutes in 1980 and 51 minutes in 1996, according to the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA). A survey by commuter group Komyut reported thisrising to as much as 3-4 hours today.
Commuting can also be made even more affordable. As it is, thepoorest low- and middle-income earners already suffer the most from the stress,less rest and recreation time with the family, and lower quality of life fromdifficult travel options.
The main reason for the hellish daily commute of millions is thegovernment orientation of privatized mass transport amid irrationalprofit-driven urban planning. This is instead of ensuring mass transport as apublic service.
Mass transport in NCR spans rail, bus, jeepney and tricycles aswell as taxis and the more recent Transportation Network Vehicle Services(TNVS) such as Grab and Angkas. A section of lower income groups have their ownmotorcycles, while higher income folks largely commute by private cars (andeven helicopters).
The government’s approach to mass transport is overwhelmingly torely on the private sector. The Light Rail Transit (LRT)-1, LRT-2 andPhilippine National Rail (PNR) railway lines are all government owned, althoughLRT-1’s operation and maintenance is run by a private corporation. Metro RailTransit (MRT)-3 is privately owned and government operated. The remainingpublic transportation system of buses, jeepneys, tricycles, taxis, TNVS and ferriesare all privately owned.
This privatization-driven approach has resulted in insufficienttrains, buses and jeepneys for the growing population, uncomfortable and poorlymaintained and at times unsafe vehicles, and an extremely fragmented and unreliablepublic transportation system.
Poor public transport has resulted in the proliferation of taxis,TNVS, and, for those who can afford this, private cars and motorcycles. Roadand parking space are so scarce that traffic reached crisis levels long ago.
NCR is a metropolis of 16 cities with a population of some 12.9million. It is so poorly planned that 10 of its cities are among the 50 mostcongested on the planet, out of some 1,860 big cities worldwide. The AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) notes that Metro Manila taken in its entirety is themost congested city in developing Asia. Manila was meanwhile reported this yearas already the most densely populated city in the world. NCR is a bloatedcenter of economic activity where real estate development is dictated by theprofit-seeking of developers, oligarch firms, and foreign transnationalcorporations rather than the logic of livability and ecological soundness.
Employment and livelihood opportunities are scarce in the rest ofthe country so residents stay in NCR and are joined by a steady stream ofwork-seeking migrants from the provinces. According to the Metropolitan ManilaDevelopment Authority (MMDA), an additional 2.7 million commute daily fromBulacan, Cavite, Pampanga and Rizal. The resulting strain on social andeconomic infrastructure is inevitable.
All this combines to create a seemingly irresolvable masstransport crisis.
Yet, the mass transport crisis can be solved.
There can be sufficient, efficient, convenient and affordablepublic mass transport for all. The Duterte administration just has toacknowledge the crisis, take responsibility, and assert its regulatoryauthority over the transport system and regional development.
The government can immediately take steps to fixprivatization-driven mass transport problems and irrational profit-driven urbanplanning. The following are proposed:
- Address corruption and inefficiency. Thegovernment agencies and corporations responsible for the poor rail service andfrequent breakdowns should be held accountable and penalized. Self-serving andinflexible contracts should be rescinded and irregularities exposed. Theoperations of transport services should be open to public scrutiny.
- Increase the capacity and reliabilityof current rail systems. Rolling stock and rails have to beadded and upgraded. The rail systems are clearly deteriorating – averagemonthly passenger traffic of LRT1 (11.2 million in August 2015), LRT2 (5.2million as of August 2019), MRT (8.7 million in 2018) and PNR’s Metro Manilacommuter service (1.1 million in 2018) are all much smaller than in 2014. Fewertrains are in service because of safety issues and increasingly frequentbreakages and accidents, among other reasons. PNR’s operating distance hasfallen to just 100 kilometers or less than one-tenth of 1,100 kilometers ofroute in the 1970s.
- Add buses and jeepneys with governmentsupport. Buses and jeepneys are visibly overloadedespecially during rush hour and in heavy routes. Yet they are essential masstransport options and already account for 69% of the total number of tripstaken in NCR every day. The average occupancy of buses is 35.3 persons andjeepneys 10 persons compared to just 1.7 persons for cars. Jeepneymodernization must be done without displacing small operators and drivers andin a way that actually improves their conditions.
- Reduce the volume of private motorizedvehicles especially in the most congested streets.Additional public road transport requires additional road space. Privatevehicles only account for some 31% of trips in Metro Manila per day but take up78% of its road space. EDSA has a maximum carrying capacity of 6,000 vehiclesin one direction per hour but the current volume is 6,800 to as much as 7,500during rush hour – yet 66% of vehicles are unfilled private cars and only 3.5%are over-crowded buses and jeepneys. Cycling and walking should also beencouraged for shorter trips.
- Integrate the different transportmodes. The different rail, bus, and jeepney servicesneed to be made more seamless and convenient. Coordination between theDepartment of Transport (DOTr), MMDA and local government units has to beimproved. There must also be proper regulation of bus and jeepney franchisesand licenses. A rational mass transport scheme is needed includingcommuter-friendly route rationalization.
- Improve the flow of traffic. Proposalsto restrict and regulate the number of private cars on the road should be prioritized.However, other proposals such as opening up the exclusive gated communities andprivate subdivisions scattered across NCR that block or otherwise impede thesmooth flow of traffic should be considered. Mobility is a public good that themajority should be able to benefit from.
- Arrest the explosive real estate development. The relentless building of office, retail, residential and leisure/hotel space in Metro Manila has fueled the explosive wealth of real estate tycoons. Driven by business process outsourcing (BPOs) and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), office space expansion has risen to double the historical average and Metro Manila is set to become the world’s third largest office market. Real estate profits are soaring at the expense of gravely worsening congestion and straining heavily overburdened transport infrastructure.
These will however only be stop-gap measures in the absence ofmore far-reaching medium- and long-term measures to develop mass transport as apublic service. Major improvements will only be possible with greater and moreresponsible government ownership and control of the public mass transportsystem. The government needs to continuously improve its expertise and capacityto provide quality and cost-efficient services. Transport solutions thatsupport industrialization and give attention to the many legitimateenvironmental concerns should be prioritized. The uncontrolled and worseningcongestion of the NCR also needs to be addressed.
The following are proposed:
- Renationalize the rail system. Thegovernment has a long history of running rail transport systems and onlystarted privatizing these in recent decades. This essential service andbackbone of mass transport has to be taken out of the hands of privatecompanies and returned to public control. This will also allow for a moreorganized and unionized workforce.
- Nationalization of buses and jeepneys.These have been largely private-run in the country. The process can be phasedstarting with cooperativization, then joint ventures, and eventuallynationalization. Likewise, this will allow for a more organized and unionizedworkforce.
- Disperse economic activity tosurrounding regions. Moreover, livable Metro Manila citiesand real balanced development is only possible with a general national programof agrarian reform, rural development and national industrialization.
All these must be done according to a comprehensive and rationalmass transport plan. This will inevitably require significant amounts ofgovernment support. Mass transport is intrinsically expensive because of itscapital-intensive nature and the need for subsidies to ensure that it is affordableto commuters of all income levels; usage also varies widely across differentroutes and times.
Resources can be raised for this. This should primarily be from amore progressive tax system giving stress on higher direct taxes on income andwealth. Taxation always involves trade-offs and balancing costs and benefits. Butthe most important operating principle is taxing according to the ability topay to provide a public good such as mass transport, that the majority shouldbenefit from most of all.
The grossly regressive Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN)law and its other proposals should be corrected to increase personal income andestate taxes on the wealthiest families and to increase corporate income taxeson large corporations.
Further revenues for the transport system can be raised by taxingextremely profitable real estate interests which are currently the mainbeneficiaries from public transport infrastructure. This can include taxingwindfall gains for real estate developers, differentiated rates and additionalfees for high value properties or developments in congested areas, and reducingor removing fiscal incentives for Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)-registeredoffice space in Metro Manila. Other possible revenue sources include taxingprivate car users more – congestion road charges, taxes on luxury or multiplecar ownership, parking fees, and the like can be considered more seriously.
The mass transport crisis is just another stark symptom of deeperproblems of anarchic, elite-driven, and market-oriented development. It isclearer than ever that radical solutions are needed to solve the mass transportcrisis in Metro Manila. This is just a stop away from realizing that radicalsolutions likewise are needed to solve the social and economic crisis sufferedby tens of millions of Filipinos. ###
Photo from Manila Today
