Transportation crisis

Whoever solves our country’s transportation crisis should be enthroned in our country’s pantheon of heroes.

In a recent trip to Metro Manila, I saw again the long snaking lines of commuters waiting for the carousel buses along Edsa. These commuters go through this grueling ordeal twice a day. There’s also serious traffic even outside of rush hour in many areas. If commuting in the metropolis is already this bad at a time when many employees and students are still working or studying from home, I cannot imagine how hellish life would be in the capital city when things get back to normal.

The same traffic woes are happening in provincial cities. In rural areas, car owners and commuters are beleaguered by the high cost of fuel.

And then comes news that the three flagship railway projects trumpeted by the Duterte administration early in its term did not actually push through because China refused to extend funding. These projects are the 380-kilometer railway from Calamba, Laguna, to Daraga, Albay; the 71.13-km train link between Subic and Clark, and the 102-km train for the Tagum-Davao-Digos route which was touted as the first rail line in Mindanao.

It’s extremely disappointing to learn that these three train projects never took off. Many were led to believe that they were already being undertaken. The failure to tap alternate funding from other countries, when it became clear that China was foot-dragging, shows that the past administration was never serious in these projects. They were trumpeted as mere shibboleths for public image purposes.

The Duterte administration joins the ranks of past administrations that failed to appreciate the humongous urgency and gargantuan size of our transportation crisis. In his State of the Nation Address last Monday, President Marcos Jr. declared that his administration will focus on developing our country’s railway system. Should we hold our breaths?

Our transportation crisis is a many-headed hydra that spawns a multitude of problems in so many facets of our lives. If we solve it, we will solve a whole basket of problems that bedevils our country.

If we attain an expansive railway system that transports people and goods across the whole lengths of our major islands like Luzon, Mindanao, and major Visayan islands—and also circle and crisscross our major cities—our government will then have reason to impose disincentives on private transport vehicles just like the sin taxes imposed on alcohol and cigarettes. With reduced vehicles, or even just stunted growth of cars, the positive consequences are immense. We will reduce the following: our country’s huge oil importation bill; the growth of unproductive and noninclusive investments in tens of thousands of gas stations, car repair shops, and vehicle dealerships; environmental pollution, and unending road repairs and expansions which are the biggest sources of corruption. We will also stop the disfigurement of our towns brought about by road expansions.

For a household that’s forced to buy a private transport vehicle, the car becomes the most expensive member of the family in terms of required financial support, with expenses for gas, parking, toll, cleaning, and periodic maintenance. A family that buys a car becomes poorer by the huge amount it spends for it because it’s a fast depreciating asset. Imagine the productive assets that a family could invest in instead, if it could rely on efficient public transportation.

If we do not build an expansive railway system, any economic growth we attain will lead to more people buying vehicles. More vehicles will cause more road gridlocks, which translates to economic waste and stunted capacity for further economic growth. It’s a vicious cycle and the only solution is to build an expansive railway system.

A leader who solves our transportation woes would not have died defending our country against invaders and despots like the heroes of our past. But our new hero would have lived saving tens of millions of our countrymen from the war-like havoc on our roads and from the tortured lives we’re made to suffer with no end in sight.

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