How the active transport movement fought to keep the protected bike lanes on Ayala

In February, Makati announced it was going to turn its Ayala bike lanes into sharrows. But then a group of active transport advocates fought back and won.

In an episode of "The Howie Severino Podcast," cycling advocate Lester Barbiera shared how they did it.

"Sobrang amazed ako sa bilis ng mga pangyayari," Legas began. He ran the series of events, marking February 10 as the date when Make it Makati announced on social media that they will turn the Ayala bike lanes into sharrows, or shared road.

"It was a Friday," Lester said, adding "lahat kami confused."

"Tapos parang nagkaroon bigly ng movement. There [was] this awesome person nag-comment siya run sa post ng Make it Makati Instagram. 'Anyone organizing a bike protest this weekend on the announced removal of the Ayala Avenue Bike Lanes by February 15? Would like to join if any?'"

That question, by Ken Abante, sparked something among cyclists and active transport users.

"Then, there's this group of young mobility leaders, biglang nagsabi na sila na 'oh, we're going to have a viber groub. We're going to have a Zoom meeting. Mag-ano tayo. Lahat ng interested to join, mag-organize tayo ng protesta'," Lester continued.

That very evening, a group of about a hundred people joined the Zoom that mobility leaders Tina Batalla, sina Earl Decena, Ali Verda organized.

"Tapos parang nagtatanong, anong mga puwede nating gawin? Tapos gumawa na rin po ng Viber group chat."

It was a small but well-oiled machine that quickly grouped themselves into teams — a technical group, a publicity team, and so on and so forth — who all decided to hold a protest on February 12, a Sunday, two short days after the announcement was made. 

"Na-finalize po 'yung announcement on Saturday evening. Tapos 'yun na: Sunday nagkaroon na ng first protest. So two days after it was announced na mare-remove 'yung bike lanes sa Ayala Avenue, nagkaroon ng protesta," Lester said.

Around 250 people attended the Sunday bike ride protest. A joint statement signed by 260 individuals and 32 organizations said removing the protected bike lanes "endangers not just the lives of cyclists but the lives of all road users."

According to Lester, while he felt nervous about what could happen, "Sa totoo lang po, 'yung Viber group, 'yung Zoom meeting, it gave me hope. As in nagkaroon ako ng pag-asa na kung mawawala man 'yung hope ng tao about the bike lanes dito sa Ayala, itong Zoom meeting na 'to, itong grupo ng mga tao na 'to, which involved cyclist, which involved mobility advocates, may nag-join pa sa amin from Berlin, may nag-join pa from Bicol, si Haya, si Kisha na tumutulong — it gave me hope na parang 'uy, baka may laban tayo. Baka puwede nating ma-change 'yung decision ng isang malaking entity which is Ayala."

Makati later announced it was deferring its sharrow plans to March 6 but the active mobility movement kept on.

"Nandiyan na rin, sumama na rin 'yung mga other mobility advocates, 'yung Move Us One Coalition. Nakakuha kami ng suporta from public transport groups. So sabi namin, 'Uy, baka may pag-asa.'

"Nagtuluy-tuloy pa rin po 'yung mga protest namin until nagkaroon na ng meetings, tinatawag na kami for conversations until things happened na nanatili 'yung bike lanes," Lester said.

Their group conducted a bike count and presented to Make it Makati, a coalition composed of Ayala Land, the Makati LGU, plus other association of commercial establishments.

"Du'n po nila na-realize na 'Oo nga, 'no. Ang dami palang gumagamit and we have to protect them'," Lester recounts.

When asked which group in the coalition was most sympathetic to them, Lester said "It was Ayala."

"'Yung Ayala po 'yung kausap po namin. 'Yung mga decision-maker ng Ayala po 'yung nag-involve [sa] discussion and with the help din po ng Makati Business Club. So 'yung Make It Safe for Makati Movement, 'yung Makati Business Club, and 'yung Ayala Land. Kami-kami po 'yung nag-uusap regarding these changes," he said.

On February 24, Makati announced it will keep the protected bike lanes on Ayala — but not without some minor changes.

"The protected bike lanes are staying but mayroon pong changes in terms of its width. As of this recording, nakabuo rin po ng technical working group kung saan ongoing 'yung consultations ng Ayala Land with our group. From Make It Safer Makati nag-evolve na po kami to Make it Safer Movement. Bumuo ng isang technical working group na currently nag-uusap-usap para maging maayos 'yung kalsada ng Ayala Avenue.

In the podcast, Lester brought up some important figures: According to an SWS poll, 94% of Filipinos do not own a private vehicle, with 4 of 5 households owning a bicycle.

Turning back to Ayala Avenue, where two of the four lanes were dedicated to private vehicles, Lester reasoned, "Kung 6% lang yung private cars, maybe we should rethink kung dapat ba talagang nasa kanila yung kalahati nung kalsada at pini-pit natin against each other yung public transport and active transport at 94% ng mga tao sa Pilipinas."

"Deserve po ng isang maayos at protektadong lane yung mga active transport users, yung mga namimisikleta kasi sila yung vulnerable users eh."

Listen to the rest of the podcast above. — LA, GMA Integrated News