Use your feet

Bikeways and walkways are viable alternatives to motorized transport but are not getting the attention and support of top government leaders. After launching the first 3.6 kilometers of its network of bicycle lanes amid soaring gasoline prices in October 2005, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) seems to have forgotten all about the project. The MMDA said it intends to build up to 200 kilometers of bikeways and walkways in Metro Manila until 2010 but has not added to the 3.6 kilometers it has set aside between Katipunan Avenue and Kamias Road in Quezon City for bicycles last year. The project is not getting enough funding either from the national government or from local leaders. Yet, there is no disputing the project’s potential of giving people cheap and healthy alternatives to motor vehicles that pollute the air and congest the roads. Bayani Fernando, the MMDA chair, said the average trip of Manila residents covers 2 kms.,which takes only a few minutes to bike and little bit longer to walk. Fernando was mayor of Marikina City from 1992 to 2001 and began building bike lanes in the late 1990s mainly to curb traffic congestion on the city’s narrow streets. Since 1999, the city has created over 30 kms. of bike lanes, spending at least P60 million for the project. It plans to double the length of the bike paths to over 60 kms. in the next five years. Soaring petrol prices and higher transport fares helped boost bike use in the city. After growing by only 16 per cent between 1999 and 2002, the total number of bicycles on the city’s major road crossings jumped by 52 per cent to 33,389 this year from three years ago, according to a manual count in July 2005. There were only 12.5 motor vehicles for every one bicycle in last year’s count, almost half the ratio in 1999. Marides Fernando, the new city mayor who is also Fernando’s wife, says there are now 10,000 regular bikers in the city, suggesting that one in ten households had bikes. The city lent around 5,000 pesos to its employees to help them buy bicycles. On weekends, city officials go to schools to teach students the basics of safe biking and how to take care of their bikes. Last year, the city government lent over 200 bikes to students to encourage them to bike to and from school. Officials are studying a scheme to let the students and their parents buy the bikes over a 10-month instalment period. In Makati, home of the country’s financial district, commercial tenants of property developer Ayala Corp. built several kilometers of covered elevated and ground-level walkways, and underground street crossings. Began in the mid-1990s and costing P700 million so far, the project has helped boost pedestrian traffic to restaurants and shops in and around the office buildings. An Ayala consultant, Salvador Tan, said the walkways, which are linked to a nearby commuter train station, are used by over 200,000 people every weekday. Makati office workers now use their feet more often, increasing their average walking distance to 700 meters from 450 meters in previous years. Noontime motor vehicle traffic fell by about five per cent this year compared to eight years ago as busy executives walked to lunch instead of driving. The number of cars on the road during lunchtime fell by 15,000 to 20,000 between 1997 and 2005, said Mr Tan. “Pedestrians will walk more and longer with a better environment, and a good pedestrian environment is good for business,” said Mr Tan, summing up the factors for the project’s initial success. In both cases, planners made sure the bike lanes and walkways linked people to where they wanted to go such as restaurants and shops in Makati, and government offices, markets, parks and schools in Marikina.