Wanted: Walkable, bikeable cities

Making our cities more walkable and bikeable offers so many benefits, both for the people and the environment, that it should be one of the major priorities of our government and, indeed, our society.

In the first place, walking and biking are physical activities, that can help prevent a range of diseases and promote overall fitness and even mental wellness. A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that people living in less walkable neighborhoods had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (Howell, et al., 2019), and a study in the Journal of Transport and Health found that walking or cycling to work is associated with a better sense of well-being and even work-life balance (Herman and Larouche, 2021).

Walking and cycling also foster a better sense of community; simply put, people get to know each other—and their neighborhoods—when they walk or bike. I experienced a bit of this during the pandemic when biking around my home province of Laguna led me to discover various stores (including a suki for fruits and root crops) and entire communities.

More bikes and more people on foot also mean less traffic. For those who think that bike lanes cause traffic by reducing road space for cars, you cannot be farther from the truth! The world’s most walkable and bikeable cities also happen to have the least traffic congestion, not just by decreasing the usage of cars, to begin with, but by improving traffic flow.

Crucially in a time of climate crisis, there are also environmental benefits that come with active mobility, with fewer emissions and heat from motor vehicles, leading to reduced air and noise pollution, as well as the protecting (and engendering a greater demand) for more green spaces as part of walking and cycling infrastructure.

There are economic benefits, too, not just for roadside cafés and restaurants catering to cyclists, but also for entire districts due to increased foot traffic that’s good for businesses, which is why many cities around the world, from Madrid to Mexico City, are going car-free.

Civil society groups like the Move as One Coalition, AltMobility PH, and Make It Safer Movement have been touting the many advantages of pursuing active transport. Let me just mention one more: safety. Last March, Quezon City traffic enforcer Jeffrey Antolin sacrificed his life to save a cyclist from being hit by a 14-wheeler truck: a tragedy that, just like the 38 children that die in road crashes in the Philippines each day, would have been avoided if we change our unsustainable (and unsafe!) transport paradigm.

The demand is there. The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found that 36 percent (or an estimated 10 million) of households nationwide have least one member who cycles for any activity. An earlier SWS survey also showed that 44 percent walk to work. This makes walkability and bikeability a matter of “transport justice.” “Car owners comprise only 6 percent of households nationwide,” as Robert Y. Siy, a co-convenor of the Move As One Coalition, writes. “We need to assert loudly and repeatedly that Filipinos without cars, who make up 94 percent of our population, are entitled to their fair share of road space.”

Thankfully, a growing number of local government units are taking leadership in this move, from Baguio, Quezon City, and Naga to Mandaue, Cebu, and Davao. Just this week, Malabon councilor Nadja Vicencio filed a resolution for a car-less day in the city. Such car-free initiatives—which also include Makati’s car-free Sundays on Ayala Avenue, Pasig’s “People’s Street project,” and Valenzuela’s pedestrianized Fatima Avenue—should be replicated nationwide. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas also just announced a “green lane,” building on its impressive network of bike lanes.

Thankfully, too, the government is finally recognizing the importance of walking and cycling, and the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 makes a commitment that “pedestrians and cyclists will be accorded the highest priority.” Other agencies have also released supportive documents, from the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s Memorandum Circular No. 2020-100 that call for a national bicycle lane network and the Department of Health’s joint administrative order on active transport to the just-released United Nations Development Programme-Department of Transportation Bike Lane Master Plan. But these policies are at best poorly implemented, and risk being diluted or distorted, as with the dangerous plan to lump motorcycles and bikes in one lane.

What should further encourage us is that many of the world’s most walkable, bikeable cities started off as polluted, congested, and car-centric, including Amsterdam itself, where, in 1971 alone, 3,000 people were killed by cars, 450 being children. What made a difference were grassroots movements, cycling and walking activists, experts who used their knowledge to support advocacies, enlightened officials (including those who walk and bike themselves), and an informed, engaged citizenry—who ultimately voted leaders who are able to facilitate a better quality of life.

If we are to have cities that we can actually be proud of and happy to live in, we need to raise our voices, reclaim our streets, and demand for our government not just to talk the walk, but to walk the talk.

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glasco@inquirer.com.ph