Movements of people who wake up at 5:00AM within an area of 636 square kilometer was never a problem of the past. Until, of course, the number creeps towards 12 million pair of eyes that open that early (or earlier) to go to work, to school or to wherever, then it becomes another story.
The only sane "solution" is to get used to it. I am joking, of course :- )
A few months back I was given the opportunity to facilitate a course on Transportation System. I read and studied to get a handle on how to present it. The more I read and the more I studied, it dawn on me that there is a need to admit, I lacked time to prepare to present the course the way I truly wanted it. But not to shortchange the students, what was written in the syllabus was delivered. Now, I am hoping to get another opportunity.
When one uses their fingers and a mouse, an avalanche of information is delivered on one's plate. To make sense of it all, takes time. And to contextualize it to local flavor takes even more time.
Ever wondered why our iconic jeepneys are only endemic to the Philippines?
In the 1950s, the American car manufacturers, lobbied our congress to put the development of a true mass transportation to a screeching halt. This simple business strategy of American car manufacturers to increase top-line growth, ensured that the our children, our grandchildren (and hopefully not our great grandchildren) will still be riding jeepneys when their Asian counterparts will be riding bullet trains :- )
The Americans gave us a lot. But they also needed wealth. Sometimes, short-sighted wealth.
This legal structure enabled the business, the politics, the pain, the poverty and the much maligned pedestrian and drivers to reach its present form.
As I read what the world offered as intelligent solutions to mass transportation, the more I realize that we need to get creative. It will hurt us more if we simply import a solution and treat this as 'plug and play'.
For one, if we use rails - the question is how will we power it? Electricity? Nuclear? Like the Japanese? The question usually leads to where will we invest when it comes to power generation? Gas? Hydro? Geothermal? How's the carbon foot-print in that? And the cost of that to the environment? A metric that was not even used by the experts when they build their own mass transportation system when they were transitioning :- )
Or if we go towards the other side of the spectrum of building an commercial system that let's commuter acquire their own 'whatever shape and form cars'. (Which I think is the silent solution with the absence of a car phase-out policy and the market growth of previously-owned cars.) This actually runs head on to the fact that our current mass transportation system runs on a franchise model. Meaning, those who holds jeepney, taxis and bus franchises must earn money. If the system that proliferates encourages the commuters to get their own cars, who will ride on the jeeps, on the buses and on the taxis? Ever wondered why we often see public utility vehicles with few riders on it except on rush hours? And we have not even considered the fact that this 'whatever shape and form cars' actually use road space that further aggravates the situation by lessening the number of 'ikot' Manong Driver can do in a day.
What if the true solution lies on the hope that the Filipinos will push the boundary of research and of engineering on alternative sources of power? Like solar and wind. Like how the French did it with nuclear power when they found out that their economic growth can not depend on other forms of power aside from harnessing the mighty atom?
Can the Filipinos do it?
Or will we be stuck on the discussion of not in my backyard, or is it congressional district? Or you better pay me this mucho dinero if you build it in my congressional district? Will we drive everyone, in the current form of our power generation industry, out of business if we pursue putting solar panels on all our roofs? Will we run against the deep-pocketed and highly influentials if we put time, brains and some money on this pursuit?
Or are we really solving a lot of problems if we put solar panels on our roofs and then sell to distributors to power our rails? Which in return will give Manong Driver the kapalit income he desires so that he stops driving our iconic jeeps? :- )
In one of the things I read about transportation system, it states - "Solving transportation problems is not difficult. It is harder than that."
What will happen when a generic Filipino leader finally realizes that he is actually behaving like our generic jeepney driver, who only worries about himself, his pasada, loading and unloading wherever he wants? And that he actually forgot that he has a masters degree (or even a PhD) in some prestigious school outside of the Philippines?
"... why think like mere men?"
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