Knee-Jerk

As I See It : Reduce 'colorum' buses in Metro, save gas

Neal Cruz opinion@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

CHARACTERISTIC of the lack of imagination and ideas of this administration is its knee-jerk decision to conserve oil. "Let's use bikes and walk more," said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and immediately the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the mayors met to set up bike lanes all over the metropolis at a cost of P682 million.

We are going backward as a nation. A more primitive China, where bicycles used to be a primary means of transportation, has now phased them out. But we are now going into bikes. In the same way that we are going into land reform at a time when its originators, and from whom we copied the concept -- the two Chinas -- are phasing it out. Next time, we may have rickshaws pulled by humans instead of motor-driven, and therefore gas-guzzling, tricycles.

What is very obvious to the people the Departments of Energy and Transportation cannot see. And that is, that the oversupply of buses in Metro Manila, especially on the Edsa highway, is a principal cause of fuel wastage. Every day, these buses, all of them half-empty, burn thousands of gallons of fuel as they creep slowly in the metropolis because of heavy traffic caused by them in the first place. All the other vehicles that have to creep along in the heavy traffic as a result burn millions of gallons more. Worse, all these vehicles pollute the air we breathe with the toxic gases they emit. Isn't it elementary that just by reducing the number of buses (and jeepneys), we would be saving millions of gallons of fuel and improve the quality of our air?

All these extra buses are neither needed nor authorized. Half of them would be enough to take commuters to their destinations. By the government's own estimate, at least 300 buses operating in Metro Manila are "colorum" [illegal]. These buses have franchises to operate in the provinces, but their operators prefer to operate illegally in Metro Manila. Why? Obviously because they earn more in the city. They have much fewer passengers and fewer trips in the city because of the traffic, and use up more fuel in the stop-and-go traffic, yet they prefer to operate here rather than in their provinces where they are sorely needed by the people. Yet they earn more in the city despite the dearth of passengers and trips. How? They overcharge their passengers.

So what are the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board doing?

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The President wants the people to walk more. Fine. But she should try it first. She would find out that it is very difficult to walk in Metro Manila because there are no sidewalks to walk on in the first place. Oh yes, there are sidewalks, but they are occupied by parked vehicles and sidewalk vendors. Some business establishments even rope off the sidewalks to reserve them for their customers. These sidewalks belong to the public, not to the stores. And they are for the use of pedestrians; they are not parking places for vehicles and vendors. As a result, pedestrians to whom the sidewalks belong have to walk on the street where they risk being sideswiped by speeding vehicles.

Before we can entice the people to walk more, we should first make the sidewalks pleasant to walk on.

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On Aug. 30, the 155th birth anniversary of Marcelo H. del Pilar, Plaridel's Corner will be inaugurated at 10 a.m. on Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila. Here, anybody can speak out his or her mind freely at any hour of day or night, speak out against the government and its officials, without fear of being stopped or arrested. It is patterned after the Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park, or those in Singapore and Australia.

Plaridel's Corner is a project of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, Samahang Plaridel, the journalists' association, and Kapihan sa Manila forum which was born 20 years ago for the sole purpose of promoting freedom of speech and of the press. Isn't it fitting that the first Plaridel's Corner is situated at Plaza Miranda, the place public officials used to refer to when they asked their associates: "Can we defend this (contract, policy, or decision) at Plaza Miranda?"

In the morning, at 9:30 a.m., there will be a wreath-laying at the Plaridel monument in Malate, Manila. In the evening, there will be a musical variety show, "Harana kay Plaridel," at the Front Page piano bar.

Three evenings earlier, on Aug. 27, there will be another musical show, "Plaridel's Night," at the Front Page. At 1:30 p.m., still Aug. 27, there will be a lecture on "The Revolution of the Intellectuals" by Adrian Cristobal at the Plaridel Clubhouse.

And on Aug. 29, at 11:30 p.m., an exhibition of cartoons by the Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas will be opened.

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KAPIHAN NOTES: There will be two sets of panelists at next Monday's Kapihan sa Manila (Hotel) forum. The first are the four young pro-administration congressmen who last signed the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo: Gilbert Remulla, Robert Ace Barbers, Edmund Reyes and Dodot Jaworski. Would that other administration lawmakers also be stricken by their consciences and follow them.

The second batch is the officers of the feuding basketball associations. The Philippine Olympic Committee has ousted the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and replaced it with the Philippine Basketball Federation (PBF), but the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIDE) still recognizes BAP and not PBF. All this is happening just when we are hosting the Southeast Asian Games where we have always dominated the basketball games.