Article: "Policy Failure"

[docgorio]

Below is today's column in the Phil Star written by one of the people whose opinion I respect very much:

[SIZE="4"]Policy failure[/SIZE]
FIRST PERSON By Alex Magno (The Philippine Star) Updated January 04, 2011 12:00 AM

What a disappointment: the best measure the MMDA could come up with against homicidal bus drivers along Commonwealth Avenue is to install CCTV cameras along the thoroughfare where four major accidents occur daily.

There should be more drastic solutions in the bag.

Over the past few weeks we were treated to a deathly spectacle of buses running amuck and taking lives senselessly. A bus ended the lives of a judge and his wife as the elderly couple made their way to dawn Mass. One bus fell off the cliff in Quezon province. As if building up towards a symphonic crescendo, a bus crossed lanes at high speed in Batangas the other day and smashed a slow-moving jeepney, killing off a family returning from a holiday.

It is not enough to merely penalize drivers who err by capturing their wrongful ways on CCTV cameras.

Our mass transport system is in a state of anarchy, bringing needless peril to our people. Policies have to be improved. Standards have to be raised. Accreditation must be tightened.

On the last day of the old year, when traffic was light and Edsa was clear, buses still managed to create a jam at Guadalupe and then at Cubao by taking over four lanes as they blocked each other off to corner passengers.

The buses along Edsa behave exactly as jeepneys do along the key thoroughfares they dominate: they unload passengers in the middle of the road, cut into the fast lanes at will, block intersections to gain an advantage over others in picking up fare, overtake, lane-shop, and race to the next rich source of passengers.

The problem here is not just a badly formed driving culture among our public utilities. That driving culture is the outcome of the irrational arrangement allowed to persist due to the sheer insufficiency of political will.

Bert Lina, who has evolved into some sort of expert on transport and logistics lately, has some bright suggestions the authorities might find it worth their time listening to. For Edsa, he proposes that all the bus units be consolidated into a consortium. Drivers ought to be paid regular wage rather than a percentage of collected fare. This way, the buses will not compete with each other for passengers, they will move through their routes without incentive to overtake. They will not clog the bus stops as they sit and wait for more fare.

I fail to see why the LTFRB could not do this. It is the only way to unclog this vital thoroughfare. The present arrangement where something like 60 bus companies compete with each other along a single road is totally insane.

As far as management of the public utilities are concerned, Edsa is the icon of a failed state.

I can’t see why all the colorum buses, despite the highly-publicized campaigns, continue to ply the route. I don’t see the reason why buses are allowed to trespass the yellow line while more efficient private motorists are arrested for traversing the bus lanes when they are clear. I fail to see the reason why the irrational (and injurious) coampensation scheme for drivers and conductors could not be banned.

If there is anarchy along this road, it is due to policy — not behavioral — failure. The LTFRB is prone to regulatory capture and easily intimidated by the influential bus operators.

Only deeply institutionalized corruption can explain the persistence of wrong policies towards the bus companies.

While at it, the LTFRB might as well enforce better standards for other public conveyances. Half the taxicabs on our roads ought to be junked. We the consumers deserve a better ride and a courteous driver, not a carcass of a car driven by a goon.

I can’t see why the LTFRB fails so miserably in enforcing safety and convenience standards on taxicabs. The prevalence of rolling wrecks is so glaring.

And the jeepneys? Isn’t it about time the authorities declared that no more jeepneys will be granted franchises?

I know that this most uncomfortable mode of mass transport is a cultural icon. But it is also the most inefficient mode of ‘mass’ transport, given the number of people it could move per unit of engine displacement.

I cannot see the reason why a vehicle that sits passengers sideways, imposing the discomfort of swaying as the vehicle intermittently accelerates and stops, is still allowed on the road. Because they have no safety belts, passengers are thrown to the front in the event of a collision, as we saw in Batangas the other day.

In a word, this vehicle is an obvious design failure. It is a medieval torture device on wheels. It has the largest carbon footprint of any vehicle anywhere. Not one more (except for installation in some museum) should be allowed to be built. Not one more should be given a franchise.

There are thousands of jeepneys in the metropolis. When not plying their routes, they are all parked along the side-streets, diminishing the efficiency of traffic flow.

In my whole life in this city, I have not seen a jeepney yard where the vehicles are properly nested, their engines regularly tuned and their cabins cleaned. How could this item escape the attention of the authorities?

In the last analysis, of course, the available amount of road space is finite and quickly overwhelmed by the rising number of vehicles that added each day. If we cannot build roads quickly enough, shouldn’t we restrict the number of vehicles we allow to be registered?

Here, too, is another glaring policy failure.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=64

[Monseratto]

There was a suggestion from MMDA Chariman Tolentiono to cancel all bus franchises for EDSA, and then limit it to 1,500 buses. But he need an enabling law to do it. There was even a transportation summit conducted recently. BUT like everything pinoy, all talk and little action...

[Horsepower]

I think Tolentino's hands are tied. He isn't the head of LTFRB so he can only lobby or "suggest" but the final say will come from the LTFRB head.

[andywesteast]

Isang dahilan lang yan: TONG

[wowiesy]

I think Tolentino's hands are tied. He isn't the head of LTFRB so he can only lobby or "suggest" but the final say will come from the LTFRB head.

it's up to LTFRB if they got the b*lls to do this.. kung ano ang justification nila to cancel out the franchises (it is still a legal contract) so dapat may legal basis din to terminate the contract....

Much more difficult for any LTFRB head is how to manage the counter actions of the backers of the different bus companies. Magkakasubukan dito kung gaano ka lawak ang reach ng influence ni PNoy kung sakali. Kung mangingibabaw yung mga erring bus companies kahit na malaking damage na sila as an industry, I suppose yung inaakala nating "Daang Matuwid" ay may hangganan din...

Yung idea of making the bus drivers / conductors on fixed wage is good. But it is not the only solution. A holistic system / solution should also be implemented. After that, the system / solution should also be strictly enforced and monitored for compliance.

If we try to be a step ahead... ano ang scenario sa capitalist / investor sa bus company kung fixed wage na ang driver / conductor? Okay, hindi na sila balasubas sa kalsada? Hopefully yes. Pero paano mapro proteksyunan din yung interest ng owner ng bus company under this scenario? Kung mag petik petik lang ang driver (fixed salary kahit na naka park lang sya or claim na may sira at hindi gumalaw), in the long run, bus company maaaring mag sara.. so paano na ang commuting public? Ayos nga ang private motorist, pero kawawa ang commuting public...

"Octopus card" type system may be able to help (yung system sa Hongkong or Singapore, you buy a card, you can load it or pay through credit card, then use the load in the card to pay for MTR, subway, bus, etc.. )... it is an additional investment yes, but it is precisely the low barrier to entry (into the Edsa route by colorum companies) that make the colorum industry thrive... if you raise the barrier (and also have the capability to enforce the barrier and apprehend those trying to get around it) then mas kokonti ang susugal na mag colorum... (i know, easier said than done)...

I think the consortium arrangment can be explored. Common terminals for buses, different carriers operating in the common bus terminals (parang airports). That way, security can be improved (metal detectors, xray machines on bus terminals). LTFRB sets routes but all will begin and end in the common terminals provided for. Bus companies now will vie for the rights to use the bus terminals (this will be based on supply and demand) so sa mga high passenger terminals, shempre maraming bus ang makikipag unahan, dapat din sa mga high passenger terminals malalaki din ang facility. Bus companies will still have their own brands etc, they will just drop off and pick up passengers sa terminal. If the terminal needs to charge a terminal fee, so be it (for the use of CR, waiting lounge, etc.. )...

Another is that the railway (but not limited to MRT, LRT) should also be improved. Next to buses, cargo transport is the next major public issue sa land transport. If all goods need to pass through Metro Manila to cross from North to South, problema din to. If the railways are functional, the goods can be transported through train across the Metropolis, then just container vans na lang ang lipat lipat from trucking to trucking based on train terminals located at strategic cities / municipalities across the Luzon grid.

Out of all these, kailangan pondo.

[Lucius]

Stupid ass clowns

[hondaboot]

answers to question from above:

1. wag apihin / imarginalize ang mahirap na driver lang ang narating.
2. hindi pupuwede ang salary system sa drivers coz malulugi ang operators. di na magsasakay ng pasahero.
3. the consortium law will never be passed solely bec. the transport system itself serves the milking cow of the private businesses of these lawmakers/people of authority.


solutions to article above:

1. tax heavily steel materials so that constructing a PUV will require a very high investment. or

pass a law not to use stainless or other hard steel used in PUVs and instead use the one used in cars in guise of public safety. in this way, mahal magpagawa pag nabangga din sila.

2. encourage/support/finance low downs in either the car or condo market so that more and more pinoys will opt to buy fuel efficient minicars or just buy a condo near their places of work


the best way to solve the transport problem is not to confront them directly. in that way, magugulat na lang sila napag-iwanan na sila ng panahon.

[chrismarte]

Stupid ass clowns

Political Will ang kailangan nila....but dahil sa tukso at pansariling interes ang inuuna nila mahihirapan sila na gawin ang dapat sa nakakarami.

[safeorigin]

answers to question from above:
1. tax heavily steel materials so that constructing a PUV will require a very high investment. or

pass a law not to use stainless or other hard steel used in PUVs and instead use the one used in cars in guise of public safety. in this way, mahal magpagawa pag nabangga din sila.

making commodities artificially high usually isn't favorable in the long term

2. encourage/support/finance low downs in either the car or condo market so that more and more pinoys will opt to buy fuel efficient minicars or just buy a condo near their places of work

yes... and create a credit bubble

the best way to solve the transport problem is not to confront them directly. in that way, magugulat na lang sila napag-iwanan na sila ng panahon.

yes... and end up like the US

[Big_daddy]

Sana lang eh may mangyari...eh simple nga na paggamit ng headlights pag gabi eh di magawa ng mga jeep...and yung mga bus...salot sa daan, harurot dito, harurot dun...ang what happens if maka-patay sila...nothing...nakukulong ba yung mga driver...nope. And don't forget those tricycles and scooters.

I guess our road conditions is a good reflection of our society...no direction, abusive road citizens...lack of discipline...the list goes on.

[shadow]

ALex Magno? pleeeassse.....he lost his credibility a long time ago when he became the mouthpiece of Mike Arroyo and GMA.

[fourtheboys96]

ALex Magno? pleeeassse.....he lost his credibility a long time ago when he became the mouthpiece of Mike Arroyo and GMA.

well, he is not talking about politics so you can throw out your bias against him just for this article.

anyway, put an MRT or LRT on every major MM street and these junk vehicles together with there junk drivers will die a natural death.

[safeorigin]

in order to put them out of business, you need to introduce competition.

if they can't adapt then they lose.

[uls]

those buses and PUJs continue to exist because some people are greatly benefitting from their existence

the same way why there's jueteng

[fourtheboys96]

in order to put them out of business, you need to introduce competition.

if they can't adapt then they lose.

the key word here is "competition".

we actually have policies already that can remove these buses and PUJS (and our lawmakers can actually make more of the same policies) but we are very poor in implementation. plus protests left and right when authorities actually implement it.

so if policy can't beat them, may good competition can.

[niky]

well, he is not talking about politics so you can throw out your bias against him just for this article.

anyway, put an MRT or LRT on every major MM street and these junk vehicles together with there junk drivers will die a natural death.

Too expensive. We're already subsidizing each and every MRT/LRT passenger at a rate that's twice the fare they're being charged.

Better if the artificial handicap imposed on FX Taxis and Hire Vans is ditched so that these can compete on an even keel with Jeepneys and Buses.

[fourtheboys96]

Too expensive. We're already subsidizing each and every MRT/LRT passenger at a rate that's twice the fare they're being charged.

Better if the artificial handicap imposed on FX Taxis and Hire Vans is ditched so that these can compete on an even keel with Jeepneys and Buses.

i would like to see a benefit cost analysis of this. not the BCA that businessmen know. the BCA environmental economists do.