Today would mark my one-year of writing “Street Talk” in this paper, the BusinessMirror. My sincerest thanks to those who have made this happen, most especially to my good friend, Mr. Edward Cabangon, who also sends me my daily dose of spiritual reminders; our dear editor, Mr. Angel Calso, whom I bother every Sunday morning for my weekly article submission, and Ric Alegre, a former fellow civil servant who was the one that introduced me to the wonderful world of journalism.
It has been a good year of “street talking” that started with mostly transport concerns and other pressing urban matters: the seemingly unsolvable problem of traffic, the lack of sustainable mass transport, the worsening pollution and other consequences of living in this urban environment. I thought it would never get worse than that. Never did I imagine, just like the rest of us, that a potential catastrophe was just around the corner as we entered 2020, hitting us hard and changing our lives drastically overnight. Now, all those problems we had before seem insignificant as we are facing matters of safety and survival.
We now know the effect of this pandemic globally, particularly in the transport sector and with us confined in our cities. Global air and maritime travel have virtually halted, leaving just the delivery of essentials barely moving while leisure and business travel have become nonexistent since the start of the pandemic. On land, both road and rail travel had been affected like never before. Though public mass transport such as rails and buses have resumed, even in our country, ridership has gone down. Social distancing and “staying at home” has brought transport on its knees, resulting in a loss of business and employment never seen in our lifetime. In our country alone, most of those in the transport industry are now lacking employment and most will have to depend on the dwindling government aid to make it until their sector gets back to normal.
But the journey to “live” has to continue, and resilient as we are, we will adjust and will survive. Thus, many “pivots” in our transportation sector have taken place. We currently see this on our roads, particularly jeepneys turned into delivery vehicles and shuttle services. Those who did ply their normal routes incorporated improvised barriers to comply with physical distancing regulations. The public, too, made coping adjustments. The increase in bike commuting was a result of the lack of available public transport. The many delivery riders that we now see everywhere represent the response to the sudden increased demand of home deliveries, thus employing thousands of individuals who otherwise would have been unemployed. It is also in this environment that the public will look up to the government for guidance as well as assurance. A “Covidized” transport action plan needs to be in place that will assure us of better mobility while fighting this virus. And any implementation of this plan must be guided by these four principles: It must be immediate and fast to implement. It must be affordable for everyone. It must be scalable. And most important of all, its benefits need to be inclusive.
There will still be many bumps on the road before we get out of this pandemic. And frankly speaking, despite the promise of a vaccine, we may be on this journey for some time. During this period, there will also be many hits and misses still to happen. Unfortunately, there will be a number of us that will be adversely affected, with some not making it to see the end of this tragedy. Eventually we will see the light of day. This pandemic will end and its scars will be written in the new transport policies that will become part of the new normal.
It has indeed been an unforgettable one-year journey that we took together here in Street Talk. With gratitude to my readers, I look forward to another year of tackling our concerns on the road and “street talking” the problems and possible solutions with you.
Just like the horizon we see while on the road, we reach what we thought was the end, but it turns out to be just the bend. Even in these difficult times, we still hope for a better horizon.
Our journey begins—again.
Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He has completed his graduate studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and is an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu
1 comment
Would love to perpetually get updated great blog!