1. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities:
The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 JANUARY 2012
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMPLEX AUDITORIUM
ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY, LOYOLA HEIGHTS, QUEZON CITY

2. Catalyzing New Mobility in
Cities:
The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights Quezon City

3. Table of Contents
Executive Summary
I. Opening Program
A. Welcome Remarks by Dean Antonio La Viña, ASoG
II. Overview of the Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast Asia
Program (iBoP Asia)
III. Presentation of iBoP’s Key Projects
A. Universities and Councils Network on Innovation for Inclusive
Development in Southeast Asia (UNID-SEA)
B. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities Project: Finding NewMo in Metro
Manila
IV. iBoP Asia Website: iFind NewMo
V. Mapping for Inclusive Mobility: Pinpointing Transport Terminals and Hubs
VI. Search for New Mobility Business Models in Metro Manila
VII. Sharing the New Mobility Agenda
A. Search for New Mobility Opportunities in AdMU
B. New Mobility Initiatives of the MMDA
C. Responding to New Mobility Challenges in QC
D. SMART Program and New Mobility Initiatives of the University of
Michigan
VIII. Open Forum
IX. Updates/ Insights from the Rockefeller Foundation
X. Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities in New Mobility
A. How responsive is Metro Manila ’s Public Transport System to the Needs
of the Poor and Vulnerable Sectors? Insights from a Mobility Mapping
Case Study of Metro Manila
B. Case Studies on the Mobility Characteristics, Cost and Issues of the Poor
and Vulnerable Groups
C. A Preliminary Inventory and Typology of Enterprise Models for Inclusive
Mobility in Metro Manila: Of, By, and For the Poor and Vulnerable
XI. Open Forum
XII. SMART Mapping Uncharted Connection Points in Metro Manila: The
Participatory Mapping Workshop Approach and Process
i

4. XIII. Annexes
A. List of participants for Project Launch
B. Moving Metro Manila – Eagle Eyes by Dean Tony La Viña
C. Overview of the Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast Asia
Program (iBoP Asia) Presentation slides
D. Universities and Councils Network on Innovation for Inclusive
Development in Southeast Asia (UNID-SEA) Presentation slides
E. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities Project: Finding NewMo in Metro
Manila Presentation slides
F. Mapping for Inclusive Mobility: Pinpointing Transport Terminals and
Hubs Presentation slides
G. Search for New Mobility Business Models in Metro Manila Presentation
slides
H. New Mobility Initiatives of the MMDA Presentation slides
I. Responding to New Mobility Challenges in QC Presentation slides
J. SMART Program and New Mobility Initiatives of the University of
Michigan Presentation slides
K. Updates/ Insights from the Rockefeller Foundation Presentation slides
L. How responsive is Metro Manila ’s Public Transport System to the Needs
of the Poor and Vulnerable Sectors? Insights from a Mobility Mapping
Case Study of Metro Manila Presentation slides
M. Case Studies on the Mobility Characteristics, Cost and Issues of the Poor
and Vulnerable Groups Presentation slides
N. A Preliminary Inventory and Typology of Enterprise Models for Inclusive
Mobility in Metro Manila: Of, By, and For the Poor and Vulnerable
Presentation slides
O. Photo Documentation
ii

5. List of Acronyms
ADB - Asian Development Bank
AdMU - Ateneo de Manila University
ASoG - Ateneo School of Government
AUVs - Asian Utility Vehicles
BoP - Base of the Pyramid
BRT - Bus Rapid Transit
COA - Commission on Audit
DOE - Department of Energy
DOTC - Department of Transportation and Communication
DPWH - Department of Public Works and Highways
E-trike - electric tricycle
FGD - focus group discussion
GIS - Geographic Information System
GK - Gawad Kalinga
iBoP Asia - Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid in Asia Program
IID - Innovation for Inclusive Development
IMMAP - Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines
IT - Information Technology
KII - key informant interview
LED - Light Emitting Diodes
LGUs - Local Government Units
LTFRB - Land Transport and Franchising Regulatory Board
MIS - Management Information System
MM - Metro Manila
MM-PIBAS - Mega Manila Provincial Integrated Bus Axis System
MMDA - Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
MRT - Metrorail Transit
MV - motor vehicle
NewMo - New Mobility
NGO - Non-Government Organization
PT - Public transport/ public transportation
PUJ - Public Utility Jeepney
PUVs - Public Utility Vehicles
PWDs - Persons with Disabilities
iii

6. QC - Quezon City
RnD - Research and Development
SE - Social Enterprise
SEA - Southeast Asia
TAN - Transparency and Accountability Network
TODA - Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association
UNIID - Universities and Councils Network on Innovation for Inclusive
Development
UP-NCTS - University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation
Studies
US - United States
iv

7. Executive Summary
A total of 41 various organizations and 104 individuals working on transportation in
Metro Manila attended the project launch held last 31 January 2012 at the Social
Development Complex Auditorium of the Ateneo de Manila University attended the
launching of the “Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: the Case of Metro Manila” project.
With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, this undertaking was organized by the
Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid in Asia (iBoP Asia) Program of the Ateneo School
of Government.
The aim of the launch is for the stakeholders to look at the big picture and see how
organization and infrastructure are connected and how these can make the difference. It
is a paradigm shift of looking at how people really move and how one can make a
difference. It is strong on having options that includes walking and cycling. The project
hopes to ignite the goal of sustaining a conversation among stakeholders on how
citizens can be empowered to shape the patterns of mobility and access in Metro Manila
to be more inclusive. It is expected that the Metro Manila stakeholders, are motivated to
actively contribute to their own enhanced mobility by taking advantage of the
constituency-awareness, -building, and -mobilizing opportunities presented at the
project launch.
The earlier insights of the iBoP Program were people say no to innovation because of
the price they had to pay for making change happen and that universities are not geared
toward the promotion of innovation because they are too divided into multi-disciplinary
silos thus, could not fuse themselves together.
With the initial results of commissioned researches in New Mobility project, the
following were some of the understanding of those on the ground about innovation: 1)
that the community was being census and may be asked to move out from their place;
and 2) the project might lead to improvements that might attract informal settlers from
other areas. These two experiences on the ground made the project team realize that the
community is afraid of progress and that the burden of understanding is with the project
people and not that of those in the base of the pyramid.
Some important highlights of the New Mobility project include:
1. New Mobility Forum/Workshop/Lecture Series that serves as a venue for people
to habitually share information, ideas, insights, and initiatives for taking action
at a community level and increase advocates for mobility and access to
transportation in Metro Manila.
2. The project has a research component that seeks to explore the impact of the
current public transport system especially the poor and the vulnerable
population of Metro Manila by mapping the current public transport system and
understanding the mobility patterns, cost and issues of the poor and the
vulnerable groups.
3. The search for New Mobility Business Models: New Mobility Social Enterprise
and Social Innovations Award where the project will accept related initiatives,
concept, ideas and solutions specifically addressing mobility problems in Metro
Manila.

8. 4. iFind New Mobility webpage in the iBoP website that features everything or
anything related to new mobility including blog entries, links to other websites,
latest news on mobility and an update of project’s activities.
5. Mapping for inclusive mobility: pinpointing public transport terminals and hubs
using the hi-touch and hi-tech methods can improve the quality of information
through a collaborative process. These also increases awareness among
stakeholders, expand useful data available data for decision makers while
enabling much broader spectrum of citizens to actively participate in citizen
science in their own communities and to contribute their collective opinions and
decisions. Hopefully these methods would increase efficiency to the generation
of data and reduce costs while creating a community of people building on
existing platforms. The information generated will be available on-line, not
proprietary, and should start discussion streams on the state and improvements
of the transport system in Metro Manila.
Other partners and stakeholders also shared their respective new mobility agenda as
follows:
1. The Ateneo de Manila University presented by the University President, Fr. Jose
Ramon Villarin, shared its vision of making the campus a sustainably mobile
campus and its hopes of making it a carless campus. He also shared that there
are plans for pedestrianizing the campus and starts including talks on mobility
especially with students specializing on environment
2. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino
presented all their projects that address new mobility issues in Metro Manila.
Some of their key projects include: construction of bicycle lanes from Remedios
Circle to Intramuros, construction of pedestrian friendly foot bridge to be piloted
in Sucat, elevated loading and unloading bus bays, motorcycle lanes along EDSA,
LED Message Boards, Mega Manila Provincial Integrated Bus Axis System,
Vehicle Tagging, Metro Manila Traffic Navigator, and the EDSA makeover project.
He also noted the h importance of utilizing the esteros for transport purposes.
3. The local government of Quezon City presented by Retired Brig. Gen. Elmo San
Diego, Head of the Department of Public Order and Safety of Quezon City, shared
the electric tricycles (e-trike) program in cooperation with the Department of
Energy and Asian Development Bank. It is a rent-to-own nationwide program
designed jointly by LGUs, DOE, ADB and government financing. The basic
requirement is to trade conventional tricycle with e-trikes. He also shared the
Open Katipunan (OK) project that they planned to implement with Ateneo.
Ultimately, the goal of project OK is to reduce cars traversing along Katipunan in
half.
Some of the issues/concerns raised by the participants were the following:
1. The framing of the poor and vulnerable: The use of the terms “poor” and
“vulnerable” versus “commuter” or “general public”. Whereas, “poor” is an
economic condition while “vulnerability” is a physical and social condition. The
poor and vulnerable should not be separated from the general public but be
coiled into one term: “commuters”.

9. 2. The operation of electric tricycles and how it improves mobility:Such as the cost
of operation, what to do with the electronic waste generated in using lead acid
for operation.
3. The issues on making cities more walkable such as safety, health and
monitoring.:Most of the mobility innovations are centered on vehicles despite
the fact that walking is considered to be the most important mode of transport
especially for the poor. Health-wise, make cities more walkable by also not
endangering the health of the citizens.
4. The idea of citizen or community involvement:Bringing action down to the
barangay level might yield quicker and: better result than relying on government
alone. The proper mind shift is that innovation is not always the government’s
role. If the community can do something, they must act on it. Advocate for social
accountability.
5. The mapping components and its accessibility When mapping out transport
hubs and terminals, consider the flood zone areas, sitios and barangays rather
than street names and the vulnerable sectors like the senior citizens and persons
with disabilities. In terms of accessibility, a discussion on all levels of access to
information from gathering of data to publishing. Printed copies of the maps
compared to posting on the internet may be more practical and are much
acceptable to people.
In order to understand the challenges and opportunities of new mobility in Metro
Manila, preliminary data of the three commissioned case studies were presented. For
the mapping study, which tackles the question, how mapping can be used to respond to
the needs of the poor and vulnerable, Dr. Jun Castro presented both in numerical and
visual form partial mapping of the public terminals in North EDSA. In the study on
mobility characteristics, costs and issues of the poor and vulnerable groups, Mr.
Randolph Carreon showed photo documentation of their data gathering and general
findings in Purok Centro, Matandang Balara, Quezon City. The data showed that people
primarily leave their house to go to work and school. Of the estimated total of 20,000
trips per day, aside from walking, the top 2 transport modes used are PUJ and tricycle.
Generally, the people said they would walk if they could. The perceived primary mobility
problem of the Purok Centro Matandang Balara community was high transport cost,
which they thought they could resolve by raising their income. Lastly, the Ateneo Center
for Social Entrepreneurship represented by Ms. Tieza Santos, is commissioned to look at
existing transport/ mobility related social entrepreneurship opportunities in the
transport sector presented a summary of pretest data gathering and recurring themes
and variables. Two recurring platforms were raised in terms of ICT access: mobile and
Internet. Based on the preliminary survey results, data showed that in terms of
affordability, these consumers are able to afford more information coming from mobile
technology and Internet. In terms of information services, they invest too much on
transport cost than service feature. In terms of willingness to pay, they are willing to pay
around PhP7. Majority have difficulty in availing healthcare services and the finding of
employment but the primary issue is not in terms of inaccessibility directly but more in
terms of actual cost of goods due to lack of employment. 77% attribute their difficulty
towards the cost of availing of these goods and services. The recurring themes that came
up were: 1) sustainable transportation related to sustainable targets and sustainable
legislation for transportation and land coordination policies/ designs, inter and intra-
agency collaboration approach, agency prioritization and allocation process; 2) Energy
efficiency, probably because of increasing oil prices and environmental health
consideration.

10. Ms. Susan Zielienski, Managing Director of the SMART Center University of Michigan
gave an overview of the SMART program and shared some of the new mobility
initiatives of the University of Michigan. She encouraged everyone to think of
accessibility (meeting needs) rather than mobility as the goal to open up a range of new
options for innovation, including IT. She highlighted that we all live in a world where
transportation is equated to cars hence, improving transportation means improving
cars. People are culturally connected to their cars that everything else becomes
extraneous. People assume that transportation is necessary, that cars are necessary,
therefore to improve on transportation, we must improve on cars. She asserted that life
would be much better if we have more choices and not just simply choose to have a car.

11. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
I. Welcome Remarks
Dr. Antonio La Viña, Dean, Ateneo School of Government
The project launch of Catalyzing New Mobility in
Cities in Metro Manila held in the Social Development
Complex Auditorium inside Ateneo de Manila
University started at around 9:00 a.m. with Ms. Marie
Cddyqa Jaya Rogel of the Ateneo School of
Government (ASoG) leading the Invocation and
National Anthem. She welcomed the various
participants representing different transport
organizations in the event. She then called Dr. Antonio
La Viña, Dean of the ASoG, to give the welcome
remarks.
Dean La Viña welcomed the participants (See
Annex A for list of participants) to the event and to the Ateneo de Manila University
campus. He said that most of the things he had to say could be found in his column
entry at The Manila Standard entitled New Mobility and Moving Metro Manila. He felt
that moving Metro Manila was probably more important or equally important than
what the country was facing in the judicial arena1 at that time.
In his column article New Mobility, (See Annex B) he said that dealing with
transportation in Metro Manila and getting it right is important for prosperity and in
dealing with poverty. A mapping activity that aims to bring together stakeholders to
the table and have a real good conversation about options with respect to
transportation and a goal of making the people more mobile can be a good start.
Making sure that the poor are not excluded in these conversations and decisions are
also valuable in dealing with poverty. He ended by wishing everyone a fruitful
discussion and a good day.
II. Overview of the Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast
Asia Program (iBoP Asia)
Dr. Segundo Joaquin Romero, Director, iBoP Asia Program
Ms. Rogel introduced Dr. Segundo Joaquin
Romero to present the iBoP Asia Program of the
ASoG. (See Annex C for his presentation slides) Dr.
Romero started by defining the base of the pyramid
that started the iBoP concept. In his presentation of
the world economic pyramid, base of the pyramid
(BoP) was defined as people with annual per capita
income of less than US $1,500.00. The iBoP uses the
word “base” rather than “bottom” to refer to these
people because bottom sounds too starved. He
presented various data that further illustrates the
base of the pyramid. The iBoP puts emphasis on their
belief that low income does not mean no income and
1
Impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona
1

12. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
suggests a range of opportunities for market-based approaches to better meet their
needs and empower their entry into the formal economy. What the iBoP is trying to
do is to come up with a business model - similar to the New Mobility Project- that
focuses on the use of public social enterprises to cater to the need of the poor and
the vulnerable.
The program started in 2007 with Dean La Viña spearheading the unique way of
putting together various disciplines and deploys them to engage BoP communities.
The program’s stakeholders include the government, private sector, non-
government and international sectors that work to engage the BoP sector in
Southeast Asia (SEA). ASoG houses the program and has existing partner
universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam and now plans to move to Cambodia
as well.
SEA countries are very dynamic moving towards greater innovation. However,
iBoP is concerned that the innovation policies in SEA is more focused on economic
and industrial development and less on poverty alleviation. European countries
used serve as great models for innovation but increasing innovation capacity in
Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are now being aspired by other with transport
being one of the major needs of the people.
The iBoP currently pursues a two-track program or two major projects, the
Universities and Councils in Innovations for Inclusive Development in SEA and New
Mobility in Metro Manila. Dr. Romero also said that while the program is already
three years old, its people are new so relatively, iBoP is a new program with new
people.
He also shared their early insights on innovation starting with a story of a Los
Baños farmer during Masagana ’99. This farmer was able to produce 100 kabans per
hectare through innovation but soon as he got his harvest, everyone went to ask for
a share of his yield. Incidentally, he had to continue giving even when he was at a
lost. The following year this farmer said no to innovation. He also shared another
story that happened to their conversation with the community at Purok Centro. At
the end of the workshop, the people raised two concerns: 1) that they were being
census and may be asked to move out from their place; and 2) the project might lead
to improvements that might attract informal settlers from other areas. These two
experiences on the ground made them realize that the community is afraid of
progress and that the burden of understanding is with the project people and not
that of those in the BoP.
Second insight was that universities are not geared toward the promotion of
innovation because they are too divided into multi-disciplinary silos thus, could not
fuse themselves together. Dr. Romero encouraged everyone to participate in what
ASoG is currently doing and deploy together to promote innovation. He emphasized
that iBoP is about mind shift, not improve BoP directly but help create a mind shift
in the government and NGO sector.
2

13. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
III. Presentation of iBoP Asia’s Key Projects
A. Universities and Councils Network on Innovation for Inclusive Development in
Southeast Asia (UNID-SEA)
Ms. Mary Grace Santos, Project Manager, UNIID-SEA
Ms. Mary Grace Santos was introduced next to
present the UNIID-SEA project of iBoP Asia. (See
Annex D) It is a partnership project between the
National Research Council of the Philippines and
Canada International Research Center. To put the
project in context, Ms. Santos said that SEA
experiences show spectacular growth in poverty
reduction over the last three decades; however there
is a big trade off for this development as inequality is
also rising. She also mentioned that the Philippines
have the highest gini coefficient2 in SEA.
She said that we are in the field of innovation
where innovation is defined as the development of
technology, products and systems that aim at making things easier and improve the
standard of living. But in reality, innovation process tends to exclude the poor and
the social challenges they face in the innovation targets, which further exacerbates
poverty and inequality. Social justice, equality and human rights are not deeply
embedded in innovation found in SEA. These innovations are mostly economic and
industrial in nature. Human development are not really used or prioritized so social
development is just secondary to economic, technological and industrial
development in innovation policies.
iBoP with UNIID-SEA advocates for a new perspective on innovation and
development through IID. IID is understood as innovation that reduces poverty and
enables many groups of people especially the poor and vulnerable to participate in
decision making, create and actualize opportunities and share the benefits of
development. In a nutshell, it is like democratizing development with innovation
being knowledge and skill driven; the project will engage the key agents that
facilitate the production, diffusion and application of knowledge for innovation in
various fields: universities and research councils. It is innovation for all and by all.
UNIID-SEA is a 3-year initiative (2012-2015). The idea was conceived by iBoP
Asia of ASoG and IDRC to first facilitate universities and research councils’
reinvention. Reinvention means to rethink, reorient, and retool to be capable
intermediaries of innovation. For Universities, it is in teaching, research and
extension and for research councils it is in priority/ agenda–setting, grant making
with different minds coming together, and policy making. Second, the project seeks
to facilitate the establishment of formal partnership and collaboration between
universities and councils, which seeks to foster innovation research to reform social
policy. Thirdly, the project aims to develop champions and nurture partnerships by
2
Standard measure of equality in the world. Gini Coefficient: 0 representing perfect equality and 1
representing maximum inequality. Gini coefficients of SEA -- Singapore: 42.5; Philippines: 44;
Vietnam: 34.4; Malaysia: 37.9; Indonesia: 34.3 (Source: Securing the Present, Sharing the Future:
World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update 2011)
3

14. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
forming a network and eventually connect to a global movement namely: UNIID
South Africa, Latin America and South Asia. In the long term, the project aspires to
foster multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder and multi-level (national, regional and
global) approaches, mechanisms and partnerships towards IID.
The project will be working with one university each from Thailand, Indonesia
and Vietnam with ASoG being the lead university and project implementer in the
Philippines, in partnership with corresponding research councils for the next three
years.
Ms. Santos also presented a quick run through of the activities the project will go
through or its components:
a. Knowledge and capacity building (multi-disciplinary course module, Social
Innovation Lab, capacity building workshop for champions);
b. Research support;
c. Link to policy; and
d. Network building
She invited everyone to the project launching this Aprilthat will bring in
representatives from all universities and councils ASoG will be working with. In the
end, she encouraged everyone to engage and participate as they develop the project.
B. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities Project: Finding New Mobility in Metro
Manila
Dr. Marie Danielle Guillen, Manager, Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities Project
Dr. Guillen was called to present the new project
being launched on that day. (See Annex E) She started
with the background and purpose of the project, which
focuses on the use of new mobility as a lens in search of
more sustainable and innovative solutions in the urban
public transport system in Metro Manila, in particular,
ensuring that the needs of the poor and vulnerable are
met. Wanting to engage the participants, she asked them
what they meant by mobility and how each managed to
get to the event that day. Then she went through defining
the concepts involved:
Mobility – both the ability of a person (including the
goods that the community needs) to travel to
destinations of choice and the amount of movement and time necessary to do so.
Transportation – the movement of people, animals and goods from one location
to another. The field is divided into infrastructure, vehicle and operations.
New mobility in this project refers to an initiative that is multi-disciplinary,
multi-sector, top-bottom, bottom-up approaches like social enterprise innovations
in mobility addressing a socially inclusive transport sector. Multi-disciplinary means
that everyone is part of the transportation sector. She then recounted a story 10
years ago when she met a Japanese who inspired her to write a thesis on pedicabs
while her friend worked on cycling attitudes in the University of the Philippines.
4

15. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
This meeting led to an understanding on the attitude to cycle. Basically the study
shows that built it and they will come. She highlighted that it took UP 7 years for the
system to have a car-free oval an infrastructure that would promote cycling.
This New Mobility project is looking at improving the transport sector. It tries to
incorporate the dimension of sustainability in transportation such as social equity,
economic, financial, health, ecology, physical environment, air quality, noise and
climate change and not just focusing on traffic. This is based on the premise that as
complexity increases, the notion that a single solution to solve transportation
challenge also decreases and the need to look at the big picture. So there is a need
for everyone to be engaged in the call for new mobility and be catalyst, try to find
ways to solve these issues.
Dr. Guillen then moved into differentiating some stakeholders involved in the
New Mobility project such as engineers, urban planners and IT developers. She
mentioned that everyone seems to do something to address the transport issues but
are not linked. There is a need to connect the dots and find out how each can link
together.
The project aims to develop a new platform, resource center and enabler of
innovation for purposes of governance ensuring socially inclusive mobility in the
region. It also seeks to utilize and complement existing studies by initiating a metro-
wide conversation among stakeholders to introduce new mobility and find out how
the stakeholders envision the future of transport system in Metro Manila.
Finding New Mobility in Metro Manila essentially means taking myriad steps
that leads to a paradigm shift by:
 Looking at the big picture;
 Focusing on people’s needs and wants especially that of the urban poor
and the vulnerable groups; and
 Evolution of transport as attention turned to energy efficient mobility
models, shared transport schemes and community owned transport.
The project holds the Finding New Mobility Forum series called Let’s Talk New
Mobility. These series serves as a venue for people to habitually share information,
ideas, insights, and initiatives for taking action at a community level and increase
advocates for mobility and access to transportation in Metro Manila. She informed
everyone that a similar forum was held last October 2011 hosted by Ayala. She also
shared that they conducted validation workshops with the urban poor community
including tricycle operators and drivers association (TODA) to introduce the concept
of New Mobility and noticed that people got a bit worried but eventually relaxed
when they learned that this initiative is meant to focus on the people She further
shared that when they went on field, the community representatives shared that
they have no problem with road expansion but they were afraid that the New
Mobility project would dislocate them from their home. This misconception about
the project was corrected and the importance of road sharing for people as a way of
fixing things was emphasized. The goal of this forum series is to sustain a
conversation among these stakeholders on how citizens can be empowered to shape
the patterns of mobility and access in Metro Manila to be more inclusive. An
overriding aim is to promote other forms of public transport such as biking and
walking. These forum series want to highlight the fact that government is doing its
best to improve our transportation system and everyone needs a paradigm shift. She
5

16. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
mentioned that in our country people often use cars as incentive as we move up the
economic ladder but in other countries they use public transport as incentive.
The project has a research aspect that seeks to explore how the current public
transport system affects the poor and the vulnerable populations of Metro Manila by
mapping the current public transport system and understanding the mobility
patterns, cost and issues of the poor and the vulnerable groups. Aside from learning
all the issues, seeking new or emerging entrepreneurial or livelihood opportunities
responsive to their mobility needs, Dr. Guillen reminded everyone that they do have
a role to play.
New Mobility also seeks to engage the general public. This activity aims to build
a community of people wanting to create a platform or build on available platform to
improve information generated in maps for seamless multi-modal connections. This
is expected to benefit not only the poor and the vulnerable groups but the general
public as well. The development of a mapping concept is needed to see the
connectivity.
The project also has the search for New Mobility Business Models: New Mobility
Social Enterprise and Social Innovations Award, which has the following objectives:
 To surface enterprising solutions to solve social mobility problems;
 To engage different stakeholders in solving pressing mobility problems
in the megacity especially that of the poor and the vulnerable sector; and
 To document existing social enterprises in the transport sector and
generate innovative ideas that address mobility problems and needs.
Then as prelude to the next speaker, Dr. Guillen said that the project basically
attempts to generate inquiries, present more information, tickle the interest,
insights of the people, initiatives, innovations and interconnections.
IV. iBoP Asia Website: iFind New Mobility
Mr. Andre Quintos, Web and Networking Coordinator, iBoP Asia
Mr. Quintos presented the iBoP Asia
website (www.ibopasia.net) most specifically
the new mobility section named iFind New
Mobility. He started identifying the sections of
the iBoP website home page with the header
being a photo that illustrates the problem on
new mobility. He said that the purpose of the
New Mobility page on the site is to be a portal
for everything related to new mobility. In the
site you can find local and international
content containing articles, blog posts and
links to other websites. When users visit the
website, they could immediately see the scope of what the website covers.
iFind New Mobility is a blog where you can find anything related to new mobility.
Latest news on new mobility can be found there. The sidebar on the right has links
to other websites that help a typical commuter get around the metro, i.e. commuting
in Metro Manila, MMDA, Metro Manila direction and ParaSaTabi.com. These links
6

17. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
can help commuters go from one place to another. The news and information page
talks about the new mobility project and other project related events. Project
Activity page would describe the activities of the project and explain what is
happening. The Events page contains anything that happened in the past and has yet
to happen. Mr. Quintos reported that he is working on a twitter feed to promote all
the articles found in the website to the social networking site Twitter. Videos would
be uploaded also on the New Mobility Watch page. The picture galleries of past
events could also be found in the site, for example, the team’s recent visit to GK
Village in Payatas.
He informed everyone that the existing site is just the beginning and that data
are being collected and placed online. He envisions the site to be more useful to
people in the future by including a transportation map in real time using available
open applications. He shared their plan of adding New Mobility Marketplace where
people can post anything transport related they want to sell such as transport for
sale, biofuel etc. Another possibility is to have a contest to get everyone engaged and
hopefully help people learn about new mobility.
V. Mapping for Inclusive Mobility: Pinpointing Transport Terminals and
Hubs
Mr. Lorenzo Cordova, Jr. Research Associate, iBoP Asia
In order to understand mobility,
Mr. Cordova deemed it necessary for
all to look at three things: 1) the
different modes of transportation 2)
the factors affecting public transport
and 3) planning and advocacy. (See
Annex F) From a perspective of a
commuter, he presented the need to
pinpoint the public transportation
terminals and hubs and their
connection using a map to increase
mobility.
The following were the key concepts of his presentation:
 Modes of public transport
 Public transport (PT) hubs
 PT terminals
 Informal transport hubs/terminals
 Engaging stakeholders in mapping
He started by showing photos of the diverse modes of public transportation and
said that each plays a major role in mobility especially of the poor and can either
compete or play a complementary role to other forms of PT. He showed more photos
of public transport hubs and multi-modal transport terminal in Metro Manila.
Photos of PT terminals, mostly found in secondary roads, were also shown. Informal
PT terminals/ hubs were defined as areas that are public or privately owned, used
by motorized and non-motorized PT vehicles as terminals, but have no clear legal
7

18. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
provision and/or local government ordinances that support its existence. However,
in reality, these informal PT terminals are often the source of living for the poor and
vulnerable.
Why is it necessary to pinpoint PT terminals and hubs? One reason presented by
Mr. Cordova was the complexity and diversity transportation modes. Second is the
growing number of unaccounted PT terminals and hubs that hinders the walkability
and sometimes obstruct the flow of transport. Third, its existence is not a secret but
the country lacks readily available and accessible information where they are.
Fourth, LGUs and other government agencies lack capability to produce up-to-date
map and last but not the least, mapping requires much time and resources.
In commuting in Metro Manila, do we think of connection points? What are our
choices and are they efficient? These questions were presented as the rationale why
we need to map transport terminals and hubs in Metro Manila. They are crucial in
order to assess the mobility problems and opportunities in Metro Manila and to
improve information generated in maps for seamless multi-modal interconnections
that would benefit not only the poor and the vulnerable groups but the general
public as well. The goal of mapping was to build a community of people wanting to
create that platform or build on available platform.
He showed a mapping example of something they did in his GIS class to map the
tricycle terminals in Barangay Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. The violet dots,
representing the terminals, were all over the map (see Annex F, slide number 10).
According to the local tricycle regulatory unit in Caloocan, they said that the there
should be at least one terminal per one TODA but the map showed many tricycle
terminals located near each other. In his study, he found out that too much
transportation terminals and supply causes too much violence in the barangay. The
second map he showed (see Annex F, slide number 11) illustrates that most of the
terminals use up space for pedestrians and sidewalks thus reduces the walkability of
the barangay. This situation is not unique in Bagong Silang and can be found
anywhere in Metro Manila, thus the need for proper mobility mapping.
Mapping for inclusive mobility needs three major components:
 Individuals and organizations as contributors
 Intermediation platform – “enabler”
 Users
Mobility mapping can either be done using “hi-tech” or “hi-touch” methods. Hi-
tech uses available open platform from the internet like google map or open street,
while hi-touch will be the one used on the New Mobility mapping workshop using
the University of Michigan-SMART Centre approach the following day. Hi-touch
method involves seven or more people in a group mapping and noting connections
and locations of specific terminals. He showed a listing of several existing web-based
platforms that can be utilized to map the terminals. Possible information from
stakeholders would include:
 Mode of public transport
 Location of terminal/ hub
 Name of TODA, JODA, PODA etc.
 Number of members
8

19. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
 Destinations/ routes
 Time of operation
 Facilities and services available in the terminals/ hubs
He gave a quick conceptual framework of how the project intends to map
mobility. They wanted to form a community; utilize different platforms such as the
Internet, mobile and hi-touch method; map out applications; and validate and
hopefully be published online as a resource for the mobility of community.
The project aims to improve the quality of information through a collaborative
process, increase awareness among stakeholders, expand useful data available data
for decision makers while enabling much broader spectrum of citizens to actively
participate in citizen science in their own communities and to contribute their
collective opinions and decisions. Hopefully the “hi-touch” method would increase
efficiency to the generation of data and reduce costs.
Generally, the project aims to empower a community of people that want to
create or build on existing platforms. The community of empowered people will be
producing data at the same time consuming them hence naming them “Prosumers”.
He informed everyone present that the maps generated will be made available on-
line as a community resource and should be able to generate discussion among
stakeholders to improve state and improvement of the transport system in Metro
Manila. He reminded everyone that mapping is an evolving activity so new
approaches may become available over time. Finally, he said that everyone is
welcome to give suggestions on how to improve their project.
VI. Search for New Mobility Business Models in Metro Manila
Ms. Jessica Dator-Bercilla, Senior Research Associate, iBoP Asia
Ms. Dator-Bercilla started by asking who among
the participants have tried walking and using public
transport. She then asked whether the people from
the audience ever thought that this experience of
walking and/or using public transport would get
better. She asked the audience whether any of them
have written down or implemented their dream.
She noted that many Filipinos lost the capacity to
experiment and innovate soon after colonization. The
psychology of Filipinos noted that Filipinos are too
used to borrowing ideas or solutions from others
(countries) that we forget to dream enough to
experiment. But under the New Mobility project, this
notion would be dissolved. A new business model search would be made open to all
for their transport dreams to turn into reality.
First she presented was the Social Innovation Initiative/ Concept Awards.
(See Annex G) This opportunity is for those who have not written their idea on how
to make urban centers more mobile. The project will accept concept, ideas and
solutions specifically addressing mobility problems in Metro Manila. Essentially this
is a solution-seeking initiative. The project is looking for innovative ideas under
these four categories borrowed from the 4Ps of Innovation by John Besseant and Joe
Tidd of the Humanitarian Fund:
9

20. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
1. Product Innovation – new mode of transport
2. Process innovation –new way of being mobile
3. Position innovation –new form of mobility
4. Paradigm innovation
The next was the Best New Mobility Social Enterprise Award. In searching for
a new business model, the project team decided to focus on social enterprise
specifically for the transport sector that address new mobility problems especially
that of the poor and vulnerable. Entries must reflect sound management, should be
properly documented and reflect a social enterprise (SE) that meets multiple bottom
lines. SE uniquely uses the capabilities of different stakeholders as leverage to
deliver goods and services in the area of mobility to meet multiple bottom lines. It
can target the following or even more bottom lines:
 Surplus or profit generation, where profit is reinvested for the gain of the
stakeholders and further pursuing the social objective
 Environmental health
 Preservation of cultural integrity and diversity
 Capacity development or empowerment of a sector or community
simultaneously improving their quality of life.
 Climate change
Below were examples of probable entries around the globe Ms. Dator-Bercilla
presented:
 Cargo bike of Worldbike
 Mini-Bus Operation, Day Care Transport, Special Education Needs
Transport by the HCT Group in UK.
 Agency Community transport Model and Transport Asset Management
Riders for health
 Non-emergency Medical transport by Tranmedic
 Mobility Scooter by Rugged Tree
She also mentioned that the entries should be existing projects meeting the
following common criteria:
 Clear identification of mobility issues being addressed especially with
those of the urban poor and vulnerable groups;
 Employ approaches that incorporate principles of sustainability in
transportation that address issues in ecology, social equity, health,
finance and economy, air quality, noise, climate; and
 Clear identification of challenges being addressed and of success
indicators
Lastly, she presented the schedule. After the project is launched, formal calls for
nomination would be open at mid February and run through March 2012. A
Committee deliberation follows around April-May 2012 and the winners can be
nominated to present at the Rio Entrepreneurship Summit in May –June 2012.
Before she left, she directed questions to Dr. Guillen.
10

21. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
VII. Sharing the New Mobility Agenda
A. Search for New Mobility Opportunities in the AdMU
Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, S.J., President, Ateneo de Manila University
When the forum resumed after launch, Ms.
Rogel introduced Fr. Villarin to share his thoughts
on the new mobility opportunities in AdMU. He
happily recalled the time when he used to walk
from Dela Strada Church, 2 km away, to Ateneo in
high school. The school did not have too many
buildings then in 1970s and walking is something
that the people like doing. But now as the school
President for 18,000 students, the Challenge is
making Ateneo a sustainably mobile campus. He
shared that there are plans for pedestrianizing the
campus. Currently, there are around 2,000 cars that
park inside the campus and occupy 7.5 hectares of
prime real estate and cost several billion pesos. What he sees and hopes for the
campus is for it to become a carless campus.
He looks forward to the New Mobility project because aside from helping others
and the city, which he grew up in and learned to love, the project will also help the
campus. He also hopes that the innovative ideas would not simply be shelved and be
replicated and adopted by other campuses in the country. He shared that majority of
the ideas will depend on how lands are allocated.
Before he left, he welcomed everyone to the campus and wished for the project
to succeed. He also emphasized that AdMU, contrary to what is perceived by many,
is not an elitist school. He proudly claimed that they form their students to look
beyond the campus and include the marginalized people.
B. New Mobility Initiatives of the MMDA
Hon. Francis Tolentino, Chair, MMDA
Chairman Tolentino started with a photo from the
Balikatan exercise, a general being carried on the back of
another man. He said that this photo illustrates the
situation of transport mobility in our country where
people are indolent walkers. More than the concept of
pedestrianization, he deemed it necessary to find out
why there is a need to motorize. He expressed his
thought that this project should also look into why
Filipinos are not pedestrian citizens.
He then moved to presenting the new mobility
initiatives of the MMDA. He announced a proposed
skybridge project that would utilize esteros to address
hopefully address mobility issues. He hopes that this
would open the minds of urban planners, policy makers, local legislators and city
11

22. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
engineers that it is about time they utilize esteros for transport purposes. He
proposed a shift in outlook for esteros as source of crimes, disease, flood, urban
decay etc. He stressed the importance of esteros to renew Metro Manila similar to
Seoul, Korea; Bangkok, Thailand and Macau. He said that they intended to publicize
the Skybridge project in the next weeks. For the New Mobility initiative, he agreed
that everyone must free himself or herself from the tendency to see Metro Manila as
roads and bridges and see that it is made of human beings. He found it very
appropriate to include the poor and marginalized sectors in the project.
He then moved to presenting the following future and current projects of MMDA
(See Annex H):
1. Plan to have bicycle lanes from Remedios Circle to Intramuros
2. Construction of pedestrian-friendly footbridges: These footbridges aim to
avoid conflict between motor vehicles and pedestrians by providing safe
movement at intersections in selected locations. Instead of using the usual
road or pedestrian lane, the MMDA created footbridges as an alternative and
safer way to go to the other side of the road. The MMDA will be taking the
design and construction of footbridges in a whole new level. The new design
to be constructed in Sucat and funded by the DPWH, will include man-lifts,
which can accommodate up to six persons in any given time. With this
design, persons with disabilities (PWD) will be able to traverse the other
side of the road safely and more conveniently.
3. Elevated loading and unloading bus bays: The bays aim to eliminate the
practice of indiscriminate embarking and disembarking of bus passengers in
non-designated areas. The agency is proposing to implement the elevated
loading and unloading bays, similar to what is being implemented in Jakarta,
Indonesia. Bus bay will have an elevated platform approximately one meter
from the carriageways. Likewise, bus floors will be customized to align with
the boarding platform. Bus bays will be modified to ensure the convenience
and safety of passengers by providing roofs, seats and proper ventilation,
among others. Ramps will also be provided for the elderly and the PWDs.
There is now a Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board
(LTFRB) resolution signed regarding this so Chairman Tolentino was certain
that this would be implemented. Hand in hand with this initiative is MMDA’s
push for bus drivers to receive fixed salaries to prevent them from hoarding
passengers. A single ticketing system of traffic violations across Metro
Manila which aims for a centralized database of traffic violations is also
expected to run by March.
4. Motorcycle lanes: For Chairman Tolentino, this is the best indication that
Filipino drivers can be disciplined. Motorcycles have steadily proliferated in
the metropolis and they contribute to traffic congestion. Given the limited
training of motorcycle drivers at the onset, they can endanger road users’
safety. In response, MMDA designated non-exclusive motorcycle lanes or
“blue lanes” along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City (QC) and
Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City. This will be expanded to include EDSA
starting February 14, 2012. Since its implementation in Commonwealth and
Macapagal Avenue, there was a significant reduction of accidents in the
mentioned thoroughfares. Chairman Tolentino hopes that this will pave way
12

23. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
for bicycle lanes, and that with the right infrastructure, support and mindset,
this can be accomplished.
5. LED Message Board: MMDA will be installing light emitting diodes message
boards in major roads in Metro Manila to provide traffic advisories as well as
road safety reminders to guide road users. An example of this is the led
message advisory along EDSA Main Avenue, Southbound.
6. Mega Manila Provincial Integrated Bus Axis System: MMDA is embarking on
The Mega Manila Provincial Integrated Bus Axis System (MM-PIBAS) which
aims to improve traffic conditions by prohibiting provincial buses from
plying the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila, minimizing public bus
transport congestion, eliminating vehicle-pedestrian conflict and promoting
faster mobility. This will be done by providing central terminals in the north,
east, south and southeast for provincial buses coming from those corridors.
The MM-PIBAS shall be patterned from existing centralized bus terminals in
other countries. Looking at airports as models, the MM-PIBAS is envisioned
to be a terminal building complex with large area to accommodate many
buses, park and ride facilities, dedicated space, which allows the mobility of
passengers and convenience of cargoes and suitable location accessible to
other modes of transportation. The idea is to consolidate the 85 existing
provincial bus terminals with 60 bus companies operating approximately
7,368 buses into 4 common terminals (North, East, South and South East).
Chair Tolentino announced that President Aquino will be releasing an
Executive Order in February directing MMDA and DOTC to start working on
this. Hence, Chairman Tolentino’s quick trip to Seoul the following day with
DOTC officials to specifically look at the operation of their bus terminals. He
strongly believed that this would be President Aquino’s pet project so it is
likely that this would be operational at the end of the year.
7. Vehicle Tagging: MMDA’s vehicle tagging scheme involves the permanent
painting of license plate details of public utility vehicles (PUVS) on all sides
of the vehicle and roof. Each type of PUV has a distinct colored background
with prescribed measurements for the text and background. This was
partially implemented on city buses starting last August 15 and on AUVs on
December 12 last year. The scheme has helped in tracking and apprehending
vehicles that have committed traffic offenses and city buses operating
outside of their franchised routes. It has also diminished the unlawful
practice of bus operators swapping plate numbers and the number of hit-
and-run incidents committed by reckless bus drivers. This initiative came
from the transport sector. This is part of the government’s public private
partnership and has no cost to the government.
8. Metro Manila Traffic Navigator: A major public-private partnership initiative
of MMDA in coordination with TV 5. An online media service providing
updated traffic situations in 9 major thoroughfares, EDSA included. Using
this system, passengers and motorists are being empowered to make well-
informed decisions taking alternative/less-congested routes. This service
can be accessed by any web browser-enabled device at
http://mmdatraffic.interaksyon.com and may be downloaded to smartphones
and tablets for free. The TV 5-MMDA traffic navigator was awarded the
bronze Boomerang award for innovation by the Internet and Mobile
Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) last August 18, 2011 and
13

24. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
the I.T. award of the year. This award symbolizes the power of combining
technology and public service to bring real positive change. Chairman
Tolentino wanted to ask the developers to make the program more visual
and include intersections at real time.
9. EDSA makeover project: MMDA is partnering with the private sector in
transforming EDSA into a traffic discipline zone, making it a motorist/
commuter and pedestrian–friendly thoroughfare. Other components of this
activity are landscaping and greening, beautification, installation of adequate
lighting along EDSA using energy efficient light emitting diodes (LED)
technology especially on sidewalks, tunnels and footbridges to avoid
proliferation of bad elements and installation of CCTVs, upgrading of street
signs and maintenance of foot bridges. MMDA is looking at Mongkok and
Suanlum in Bangkok as models.
10. Estero Bridge Part II: This is an activity that aims to clean two esteros at a
day. MMDA said this is challenging not because of the amount of trash but
because of the people who want to be relocated. These people do not want to
live in the estero de Concordia example. MMDA’s difficulty was how to
transfer the people when government resources are limited. Chairman
Tolentino called for everyone to change the way they look at cities as not just
buildings but with people. Also change their perspective on esteros as areas
of opportunities and harness the talents of the people living there. In the
same manner, he called for people to look at transport in Metro Manila.
At the end, he said he is looking forward to the results of the studies
commissioned by the project to improve Metro Manila transport not just this
year but in the years to come.
C. Responding to New Mobility Challenges of Quezon City
Retired Brig. Gen. Elmo San Diego, Head, Department of Public Order and Safety
Quezon City
General San Diego reported that Quezon
City is one of the biggest cities that occupies
1/4th of Metro Manila. It has a population of 3
million with half belonging to the poor. QC is
also one of the richest cities throughout the
country and the richest in Metro Manila based
on the latest COA report. With such
characteristics, it attracts business investors
and also informal settlements. The biggest
challenge for the city is the increasing number
of informal vendors and how to eliminate them.
QC’s response to mobility challenges is how to
coordinate with other agencies to support their
programs.
General San Diego also shared project Open Katipunan (OK) that they planned to
implement with Ateneo. The Ateneo community consists of grade school and high
school parents, students and student council members who meet every month to
discuss traffic and other problems along Katipunan. Ultimately, the goal of project
OK is to reduce cars traversing along Katipunan by 50%
14

25. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
Then he moved on to share their latest mobility program, the electric tricycles.
(See Annex I) To set the context, he said that tricycles are the most preferred and
most convenient motor vehicle used by the marginalized sector in QC. At the onset,
e-trike was a traffic initiative that reduces carbon emission within the campus but
the students wanted it to ply along Katipunan. The City Council deemed it dangerous
but they supported the idea nonetheless. In partnership with the Department of
Energy (DOE), QC was chosen as a pilot area to run e-trikes under the generous
funding of Asian Development Bank (ADB). The bank allotted US$ 40 Million for
32,000 e-tricycle units. It is a rent-to-own nationwide program designed jointly by
LGUs, DOE, ADB and government financing. The basic requirement is to trade
conventional tricycle with e-trikes.
General San Diego showed photo samples of e-trikes that are actually used in
different parts of the Philippines like Palawan and Mandaluyong. He mentioned that
the initial design of the e-trike in QC failed because the units were underpowered
and could not handle the slopes of Payatas. QC was chosen as a pilot area because
they have the most number of registered tricycles with 5,000 plying as “colorum”. In
this regard, QC issued a moratorium in tricycle registration because of the number of
unregistered units plying the road.
There were several changes proposed for QC’s e-trike program. This includes the
following:
1) The use of Lithium-ion battery rather than lead. Lithium-ion is lightweight;
its lifetime is more than 5 years, and saves space inside the unit.
2) The construction of several charging stations all over QC.
3) The use of a more powerful engine that can run the slopes of Payatas.
4) The use of a fiberglass body to endure harsh weather conditions.
He also presented advantages in using e-trikes which include the following:
1) Fuel savings of about P200 from the regular income of drivers and estimated
US$ 185 million per year.
2) Aboost in the manufacturing industry since all parts are made locally.
Manufacturers intended to participate in the bidding of ADB.
3) An advocacy for cleaner air by avoiding carbon emissions that amounts to
400,000 tons per year.
4) Helping in the development of cities outside Metro Manila by donating
retrofitted conventional tricycle units that would be traded in for e-trikes.
5) A bigger potential income for drivers since they save on buying fuel.
Also part of the proposal made with DOE and ADB is the gradual phase out of
petrol-fed tricycles. This would entail provision of incentives such as preferential
franchise or route for e-trike users and/or exemption from number coding scheme.
The city government is also gearing up for e-trike related business.
The project hopes to complete e-trike units delivered to LGUs with a standard 3-
year warrantee. For QC, they will start distributing 2,000 units this year and 5,000
every year until 2016 for a total of 22,000 e-trike units. By 2016, ADB expects to
complete the distribution and operation of 100,000 e-trikes throughout Metro
Manila, QC included. Several provinces in the north like Cabanatuan, Palawan, Davao,
and Mindanao are also beneficiaries of the ADB program.
15

26. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
The program is running in Mandaluyong already. General San Diego showed data
on the management and operation of their e-trikes and the result was quite
encouraging. He showed a simple comparison between a standard trike and e-trike
in terms of fuel savings, economic savings etc. E-trike costs more than a standard
tricycle (P200,000) because of its battery but when it comes to road space, 2
conventional trikes = 1 e-trike. E-trike also carries 6-8 people while conventional
carries only 3-4. Gross income of drivers on a daily basis amounts to P800 for a
conventional tricycle and P1,600 for an e-trike.
D. SMART Program and New Mobility Initiatives of the University of Michigan
Ms. Susan Zielenski, Managing Director, SMART Center University of Michigan
Ms. Zielinski informed the audience that the New
Mobility project of iBoP Asia is a sister study in SMART
Centre also which also got itssupport from the Rockefeller
Foundation. They share the same sister community in
catalyzing new mobility in cities. She explained that the
following day, participants would experience SMART
mapping.
The three things the new mobility project aspires are:
 Connecting the dots: For livability, sustainability,
equity
 Moving money: Innovation, access, jobs,
enterprises
 Moving minds: New way of looking at transport and cities.
She presented existing labs in the different parts of the world and their partners
and sponsors. (See Annex J) She posed a question: “Why did the chicken cross the
road?” and got diverse answers from the audience. But she said chickens do cross
the road for the sake of moving. They do it in order to go to the other side of the road.
She encouraged everyone to think of accessibility (meeting needs) rather than
mobility as the goal to open up a range of new options for innovation, including IT.
For example, making trips shorter and more efficient through IT enhanced
integrated mobility, but also through eliminating trips through IT enhanced land use
and urban design, and even more immediate, replacing trips altogether with IT such
as tele-work, tele-shopping, tele-banking, tele-education etc. Mobility is not only
about moving people. Mobility is transportation capacity expansion, land use
planning and travel demand management. We all live in a world where
transportation is equated to cars hence, improving transportation means improving
cars. She noted that people are culturally connected to their cars that everything else
becomes extraneous. She presented words that describe this connection: “captive”
and “transportation disadvantaged” where captive means having no choice while
transportation disadvantaged is when anyone who has no access to a car becomes
poor and because he/ she has to ride a bus. In this association, people assume that
transportation is necessary. Therefore, cars are necessary; therefore to improve on
transportation, we improve on cars and that is why car companies make car
improvements a lot. She asserted that life would be much better if we have more
choices and not just simply choose to have a car.
She also dissected the words typically associated with transportation and
mobility, which she felt, must be changed to something more exciting and true:
16

27. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
 Captive – means forced
 Transportation Disadvantaged
 Alternative Modes– seems like the “alternative” will never make it.
Sounds like second choice.
 Public transport cost versus investment
 Transportation demand management – sounds constraining and
associated with sacrifice
 Sidewalks - sounds not too prioritized as the they refer to the side of
something
 Road closing versus openings
 Car use reduction versus more options
She wanted everyone to transform the notion that transportation is flat. There
are actually more connected choices in new mobility. This transformation of
paradigm from monolithic to multi-faceted and connected is a foundation for a
major emerging industry. The new paradigm she proposed was based on the tons of
innovation going on around the world. Mobility is about moving people, moving
goods and moving less. This is highly evident in the greater desire of young people
these days with IT than cars thus, IT is not just about moving people but also about
moving goods and moving less. She advised that when implementation seems
difficult as to which should be done first, she told the audience to do it all at the
same time. Then she commended the event because it gets people together.
She emphasized the importance of connectivity and optimization of all kinds,
which can be seen by mapping. In mapping, a new mobility grid can be revealed by
identifying and overlaying everything. Implementation is like a human body system,
a system that needs all parts, big and small to run. One would never ask which is
better or force the choice between the heart, lungs and pituitary gland because they
are all necessary. It goes the same for transportation. Focus must be given more on
increasing, optimizing and enhancing the connectivity of the current options. In new
mobility, there is huge economic activity, saving money, creating jobs, and
revitalizing local economy.
She ended with a hope that a lot of entries will come from the Philippines in the
SMART Mobility enterPrize. This is an award for entrepreneurial ventures in
sustainable transportation created by University of Michigan’s SMART initiative and
with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. The entries should demonstrate
innovative and replicable solutions to local and global transportation challenges, up
and running, legal and can come from anywhere from the world.
VIII. Open Forum
After lunch, Ms. Rogel opened the floor to questions, comments and suggestions.
The participants were requested to approach the microphones in the aisle, state
their name and organization before speaking.
QUESTIONS/ COMMENTS ANSWERS/ RESPONSES
Concerns from Elvira Medina, President
of National Center for Commuter Safety
and Protection:
a) On the use of e-tricycle. Electricity is 1) Engr. June Yasol, General Manager
17

28. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
QUESTIONS/ COMMENTS ANSWERS/ RESPONSES
still generated from fossil fuel and what
of JAYAREC: The units are not
about the horrendous electronic waste
powered by lead acid but Lithium ion
generated in using lead acid to operate
battery. It has 3-year warranty and 5
the units? For her these should be years life cycle with performance
addressed. tested to last 10 years. Indirect use of
fossil fuel through charging as
Mr. Bharat Bongu(Intellicap): compared to use of gasoline. Drivers
could also earn more by saving money
What are the costs 5-years down the on gasoline.
line for e-trikes?
2) Benjie dela Peña: Personally not in
favor of solutions that only look at
technology but transport mobility
needs all the help it can get. One thing
that e-vehicles can do is it moves up
the question of source of fuel higher
up the chain. If you move it up higher
the chain, it is easier to change the
system. It does not matter with the
driver the source of fuel as long as it
gets its electricity. It is easier at the
platform to change the source of
power.
b) Ms. Medina also commented on the Benjie dela Peña: The issues of the
framing of the poor and vulnerable. The poor and vulnerable are not only
use of the term poor and vulnerable about transportation. The expression
versus use of general public. “Poor” is of what is poverty also changes from
an economic condition while situation to situation. In the US there is
“vulnerability” is a physical and social an infrastructure gap, people who live
condition. The poor and vulnerable near mass transit lines can afford to
should not be separated from the use cars and go to offices using their
general public but be coiled into one car whereas poor have no access to
term: “commuters”. In the BoP, the public transport stations thus they
biggest sector is commuters. Many of need to buy cars but have no means to
the poor are economically active but do so. The terms “poor” and
have limited opportunities and they use “vulnerable” works well for the
public transport. Quality of life revolves Rockefeller foundation. It caters to
around the term “commuter”. particular interest of the issues of
people who do not have adequate
housing and opportunities in
livelihood.
Bert Fabian, CAI-Asia:
Fully supports the forum but needs
continuing discussion. There is great
opportunity in the fact that President
Aquino, MMDA Chairman Tolentino and
AdMU President Fr. Villarin are former
classmates to have these discussions. It
looks like there is still an inconsistency
18

29. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
QUESTIONS/ COMMENTS ANSWERS/ RESPONSES
in the concept of mobility especially
since most of the major projects are
still centered on vehicles and not on
people. Government can or must
campaign for better public transport
that is on time and convenient. But
overall, he believes that it is high time
to have this kind of discussion on new
mobility so he emphasized that this
organization CAI Asia commits to the
project.
Engr. June Yasol, General Manager of
JAYAREC:
When talking about catalyzing new Dr. Segundo Romero: In catalyzing
mobility in cities, are you referring new mobility in cities the key word is
more on RnD or is there application for mind shift. How do you break the
grants (e.g. invest on e-trike pilot paradigm of the poor to somehow
projects). There is a need to have solid accept the imposition of car owners to
ground for mobility and not just ideas be on the same boat? The project does
not aspire to give commuters a better
transportation system but the project
offers them up to the possibility of
what can be done. Start with very
small things like having a pool of
knowledge and come up with a map
on informal transport hubs to be
shared to everyone. The project is
trying to motivate the target
beneficiaries to help themselves. Other
countries already have maps available
and if we do not start soon, our
country might be left with bad handed
down technology by our neighbors. It
is a contest with them also in
improving our transportation mobility
faster than they do. In this regard, the
New Mobility forum is targeted to
happen every month with different
stakeholders.
Dr. Kardi Teknomo from Ateneo:
One of the most important mode of Dr. Segundo Romero: This is where hi–
transportation is walking especially for touch mapping effort might help.
the poor. Unfortunately, most of the People looking at maps and identify
innovations were more on vehicles sidewalks, blockages etc. opportunity,
such as e-trike or e-jeep. Walking needs facilities that work and those that do
no facilities but needs monitoring. The not. Once identified, what can be
system of monitoring does not happen. done? Is there something for the
Reporting and feedback from the barangay captain to do? What about
19

30. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
QUESTIONS/ COMMENTS ANSWERS/ RESPONSES
community is needed. the Head of the association? It
becomes actionable because
information becomes tangible.
Bringing the action down to the
barangay might yield quicker and
better result than relying on
government alone to take action. The
proper mind shift is that it is not
always the government or MMDA’s
role. If the community can do
something, they must act on it.
Advocate for social accountability.
Mr. Alberto Suansing, Executive Director
of Philippine Global Road Safety
Partnership - Philippines:
Hope springs eternal. He mentioned Dr. Danielle Guillen: This project is not
that various studies and talks about only RnD, it is about complementing
transport and mobility exist but he was and reaching out. She told the story
glad to have this forum to raise about TODAs not knowing where the
problems and come up with solutions. other terminals are as a clear example
These transportation mobility issues of the need to complement public
had been talked about but problems transport service. The project aims to
arise due to neglect. The Government introduce the idea of complementing
was not really able to focus on public each other work to be efficient and
transportation. He shared about have the connection. The project also
dispatching nightmare in buses and his emphasized on IT and the promotion
thoughts on how improving the salaries of transportation planning. It is a top-
of bus drivers may not fly because the down and bottom-up initiative where
current system is still weak. The talking with policy makers happens at
operators in our country still focus on the same time as rounding up new
their business and not public service. business models and innovative
He believes that fare increase to cope solutions at the community level
with fuel increase is not the answer to
transport problems rather optimizing
the use of roads. He also said that there
is politics in terminals. Then he raised
the issue on safety of commuters.
Nevertheless, he was glad that mobility
is now being looked into. There are so
many solutions that can be applied. The
good thing is that this project has social
aspect. He expressed his skepticism on
MMDA’s UVVRP, which will not work in
the long run because it only increases
the volume of vehicles. Most people buy
another car just to avoid the UVVRP.
The country has been compared to
Singapore a lot but Singapore
compared to the Philippines has a very
respectable public transport system.
20

31. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
QUESTIONS/ COMMENTS ANSWERS/ RESPONSES
Karmi Palafox from Philippine Institute
of Environmental Planner and Palafox
Associates:
Susan Zielinski: Traffic congestion and
a) The drawback in some of the mobility are not different problems.
mobility designs came from the The question is how do you send the
way urban planners conceptualize right signal? What are we
them. They think as if all are car communicating about? It is more
users important or necessary to know what
kind of city we want to live in rather
b) Is there congestion charging in the than think of congestion etc. What
project? kind of transportation combination?
c) Framing of poor and vulnerable. If
progress is desired, involve the
private sector. However, are they
willing to do things for the poor and
vulnerable? She suggested not
using words that may turn off the
private sector in marketing.
Dr. Hussein Lidasan, Transportation
Science Society of the Philippines:
Supports this activity and committed to
help in any way they can. The ultimate
goal is to minimize the movement of
vehicles but not the movement of
people. But it is not just about mobility
per se but also access. Economic
measure is the dream of every
transport planner. Economic measure
means, people who are willing to pay
will pay higher but they will be
expecting an efficient transport system.
In terms of information, people
appreciated and understand better
visual explanations rather than
numerical. The bottom line is to see
what is doable. Look at how you can
connect the people through the
transport system. This forum was a
start and hoped to continue and
improve or alleviate the cancers of
transportation. He wanted to hear how
to improve quality of life without
compromising the environment.
IX. Updates/ Insights from the Rockefeller Foundation
21

32. Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila
Project Launch
31 January 2012
Mr. Benjamin dela Peña, Associate Director, Urban Development
The Rockefeller Foundation
Mr. dela Peña recounted his story or experience in
walking and commuting in QC before. For him, he
agrees to what Danielle said earlier, Metro Manila is
transportation rich especially in the poor areas.
However, there is a windshield bias by the policy
makers and decision makers and people always see
traffic as the main problem.
His presentation centered on the seven needs of
transportation (See Annex K):
1. Takes us where we want to go
2. It takes us when we want to go
3. It is a good use of our time
4. It is a good use of our money
5. It respects us with the level of safety, comfort, and amenity it provides
6. We can trust it
7. It gives us freedom to change our plans
Sometimes a shift in paradigm involves a change in jargon like calling the Traffic
Management Unit of MMDA to Transportation Management Unit. He emphasized
connections as very important in transportation and the poor and vulnerable as the
most affected. People who think about mass transit always think about speed. The
experience in mass transit is speed is not as important as frequency.
Emphasis was also given to transportation sharing or allowing people to walk.
Some say Filipinos are lazy walkers but they do not realize that it is because facilities
are not available for people to walk on. When it comes to transportation, cars are
still the priority when it should be the people. A clear illustration are the steel
barriers in EDSA preventing people from hitting cars, denying people to move in the
way of cars.
The good news is that the complications do not just happen in the Philippines.
Other countries experience drawbacks so as they find solutions, the country can
learn and we can share the experience.
He said that there is hope starting with conversations. It is not fair to put it all in
the hands of the government and believe that they will solve the problem. The
government has to deal with electoral issue (the official’s terms) and budget cycle.
However, the government should also have a clear vision and not just presenting
solutions to problems.
He ended with a quote by Jan Gehi from Making Cities for People:
“To be a lively, attractive, safe and sustainable city, (a city) must be
sweet to its pedestrians, sweet to its cyclists.”
There is a movement of a shared longing.
22