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Friday, March 29, 2024

Economically irrational

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"There is a policy bias against buses in the EDSA traffic scheme, and it must be discarded."

 

The perenially heavy traffic along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) is arguably Metro Manila’s greatest problem. As long as it remains unsolved, life will be problematic for the people of the nation’s metropolis, five of whose 17 component LGUs (local government units) are traversed by the 23-kilometer roadway. Putting an end to the EDSA traffic gridlock has long been one of this country’s highest socio-economic priorities and President Rodrigo Duterte made it a key election promise.

The basic problem underlying EDSA traffic is a mismatch between the demand for space along Metro Manila’s No. 1 artery and the artery’s ability to accommodate the approximately 3,000 buses and tens of thousands of other vehicles that need to use it every day. The mismatch is between a fixed supply and a persistently rapid annual demand increase. If little can be done on the supply side of the equation—road engineering can only do so much—any measures to mitigate the mismatch must emanate from the demand side.

The vehicles that use EDSA on a regular basis may be divided into two groups, namely, those that transport passengers, and other vehicles (mainly transporters of goods). The vehicles that transport passengers may likewise be divided into two groups—vehicles with small passenger capacities (i.e., private cars) and large-passenger-capacity vehicles (public utility buses or PUBs). The former can transport from one to around 12 passengers if Coaster-type; the latter can carry up to 50 passengers.

Given the large disparity between the carrying capacity of private cars and that of PUBs, and the need to maximize EDSA’s vehicle-carrying capacity, one would have thought that the bias of transportation policies—that is to say, MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) and DTr (Department of Transportation) policies—should be in favor of PUBs. That would make more economic sense since buses can transport, in one trip, anywhere up to seven times the number of passengers that a fully-loaded passenger car can. After all, the whole idea of EDSA traffic improvement is to make possible an increase in the number of people transported along that artery within a 24-hour period.

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But that does not appear to be the case. The transportation policy bias appears to be against buses, The tenor of the decision and utterances of MMDA and DTr has been antipathetic toward the 3,000 buses that traverse EDSA every day carrying intra-Metro Manila passenger traffic or bringing passengers to and from the provinces to bustling metropolis. All the vicissitudes and tribulations associated with EDSA traffic—snarls, delays, disruptions and major accidents—are always blamed on the PUBs. It’s as though the policymakers and regulators believe that private, small-capacity vehicles are better road citizens than buses.

To enforce greater discipline on the PUBs and “keep them in line,” MMDA and DTr have laid down a succession of for-buses-only rules and regulations. First, there were the yellow lines beyond which buses were not allowed to stray. Then, there were the rules relating to number-coding and operating hours.

The latest and arguably most problematic action against the passenger-bus industry was the prohibition and forced closure of bus terminals along EDSA. Henceforth passengers bound for Metro Manila are required to transfer to buses waiting in terminals located into sites outside Metro Manila’s limits—one for passengers coming to the metropolis from the north, and one for those from the south. Because it involves infrastructure, this latest regulation has been strongly resisted and per the latest reports, widely violated.

The foregoing discussion is not intended to suggest that the transport authorities should not regulate the bus industry or should refrain from laying down rules where and when these are clearly needed for all the stakeholders of a bus industry servicing riders who need to go to and from Metro Manila.

It is simply intended to suggest that, in all policymaking concerning how the needs of the bus-riding public should be met and by whom, economics should—to the greatest extent possible—be considered in the discussions. The economic question is this: EDSA’s space is limited and can only accommodate a certain volume of traffic. Private vehicles occupy EDSA space but can carry only a few passengers. Buses compete for space but are capable of carrying far more passengers per trip. Given the elements of the equation, should vehicles able to carry less passengers per trip be given priority over vehicles that can carry more? Surely not!

I’m talking about opponent bias. The existing bias in policymaking regarding the use of EDSA is apparently against PUBs. It doesn’t make sense—not economic sense, certainly—and should be discarded.

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