Car Bias: The Root Of Our Broken

Transport And Traffic Systems

Marlen Ronquillo
March 15, 2023
Manila Times

PRE-PANDEMIC, this scene almost always played out in the government-initiated public
consultations on transport planning and traffic decongestion plans for Metro Manila and
other densely populated, choking-in-traffic, urban centers. At the precise point that the
meeting would touch on the root of traffic jams and transport chaos, which was — and still is
— cars and other private vehicles, a representative of the billionaire-plutocrats that control
the country's automotive sector (both the assembly and distribution side) would haughtily
and strongly make a point.

The point made by the representative of the plutocrats, both incredulous and farcical, was
this: restricting cars from urban roads other than number-coding is a violation of human
rights. You can't make this up, this claim from the plutocracy that reining in cars and other
private vehicles that make up 85 percent of all vehicle presence at EDSA day and night —
which also means 85 percent of all toxic emissions — violate basic human rights. With that
claim, a loud, rowdy, thuggish drunk in a churchyard can also invoke "human rights" while
assaulting that sacred ground.

The meetings turned into exercises in futility and the reason is understandable. If you can't
rein in car use and adopt radical approaches other than the underwhelming number coding
scheme, there is no further point in discussing traffic decongestion and efficient urban
mobility. Once unfettered and unregulated car use is presented as a basic human right, and
this otherworldly claim is accepted as gospel truth, further discussions would be mere
whistling in the dark. A dead end is reached, no point for further discussions. Most traffic
decongestion and transport planning discussions for Metro Manila during the pre-pandemic
years mostly ended up stalemated simply because the loudest and the most influential voice
in the room came from the car industry rep. Who, in defense of unregulated car use, stretched
the meaning of "basic human rights" to some tragi-comic interpretation.

That is not the way things are viewed in the major cities of Europe and in the entirety of the
developed world. Take the case of Stuttgart, a major city in southwest Germany.

Stuttgart advertises itself to the world as "the cradle of the automobile." Indeed, two of the
most iconic car brands in the world — Mercedes-Benz and Porsche — have their global
headquarters here. One other global brand partly associated with automotive products —
Bosch — has its HQ in Stuttgart. Cutting-edge research for cars is being done here, both on
the design and torque side. And the glorious association of the city with cars is celebrated via
the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz museums, which are part of the cultural attraction of the
city.

Yet, car ownership is almost verboten in the city, with multiple restrictions imposed on car
ownership and use. The city's green agenda encourages people to walk, bike and take public
transport, especially near the city center. No one threatens city planning sessions focused on
car restrictions that such plans are "human rights violations." And car advocates have largely
stopped advocating car ownership and use.

The same car restrictions apply in Munich, the capital of Germany's Bavaria and the global
headquarters of car giant BMW. What is encouraged here, similar to what is encouraged in
Stuttgart, is cutting-edge automotive research and development, not actual car ownership and
use. Like Stuttgart, the city leaders want residents to bike, walk or take public transportation
whenever possible. A truck and bus giant, MAN, is also headquartered here.

I have yet to discuss Barcelona, one of Spain's largest and grand cities, and the extraordinary
efforts that city is taking to ban car use within the city center to convert roads and streets into
parks, cafés and restaurants and walkable areas. The idea is not only car restriction but
confining mobility to the three usual suspects: walk, bike and take public transport.

Under former mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City experimented with street closures with
the double aim of banning cars and encouraging walking and biking.

Across the developed world with densely populated cities churning out jumbo economic
productivity, the idea of 15-minute areas, which simply means that everything you need can
be had with just a 15-minute walk from your residence, is taking hold and gaining
momentum. The driving idea here is eliminating the need for cars, totally and for good.

In our pathetic cities, urban and transport planners cannot even muster the simple political
will to rein in car use at EDSA, the main mobility artery of Metro Manila, to free the roads
for public transportation. In our tortured version of transport planning, it is provincial buses
that are banned from taking EDSA, except for the few meters that they need to get to their
private terminals.

In our insane, science-averse, data-free version of transport planning, even the elementary
concept of giving road priority to the most efficient carriers, is set aside to pander to the
polluting and marauding hordes of private vehicles with an average carrying capacity of one
and a half per trip.

Should we muster the spine to end our car-pandering, car-centric transportation and mobility
policies, buses, jeepneys, carrier vans and other public utility vehicles — which represent 15
percent of total vehicle registration nationwide — can move people effectively and
efficiently with minimal pollution and environmental scourge.

Giving the PUVs unimpaired use of the road will not only guarantee round-the-clock
commute without the jams and bottlenecks but transport service at competitive prices. The
priority on road use will directly impact on their financial viability, thus eliminating the need
for transport strikes.
Pandering to car owners and the plutocrats that control the automotive business has been the
foundational root of our broken transport/traffic policies since time immemorial. It is time to
shift gears and take the road the best urban and transport planners have taken.