Innovation not just regulation

You see them standing by the hundreds, five days a week, all waiting for a ride home after office hours. They stand for at least an hour if not more and one thing very clear during rush hour is that there are never enough public utility vehicles within that three-hour window. Some people have tried to provide all sorts of solutions to address the need. Along Shaw Boulevard for instance you will notice vans, AUVs and even tricycles willing to take on passengers based on per head charges and at a much higher rate.

By law, it is all illegal one way or another. Illegal because the fares they charge are often double or triple the legal fares. But the reason they do so in the first place is because if they are caught, the price to pay to get out of jail or prevent law enforcers from impounding your vehicle is a very high price. We really can’t fault the LTFRB, local traffic authorities or the LTO for going after the “colorum,” because they are merely doing their jobs and implementing the law. The problem with all of this is that it does not address or solve the problem: People need a ride during rush hour.

This is the reason I am calling for INNOVATION and not just REGULATION. The current state of public transport specifically during rush hour seriously needs innovation. When the TAXI industry failed to service the needs and safety of their customers, the innovation came in the form of UBER and GRAB. That innovation initially got bogged down on the issue of “franchise” and remains to be fully sorted out. Now we have the perennial and perpetual problem of jeepney and AUV/van riders not having enough units for peak hours. There are many private vans and AUVs that could double up like Grab and UBER owners but the complicated, expensive and limited number of franchises available turn or scare away would be applicants.

Crazy as it may sound, perhaps the LTFRB and the DOTr might consider studying a way where AUV and van owners can be “part–time or sideline operators” who can get a franchise or permit to transport passengers for a limited number of hours, lets say three or four hours and only during the rush hour and for selected routes such as Crossing – Marikina - Antipolo or the likes. It’s not too much of a stretch for the LTFRB and LTO since these agencies do provide special permits for special routes.

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Another problem that could be temporarily solved through “innovation” is the perennial pile up of passengers, buses and trucks at the Port of Matnog in Sorsogon where they all wait in line to board ROROs and Super Ferrys to cross over to Allen, Samar. No one from Imperial Manila has ever addressed the problem seriously because it is out of sight so out of mind. After some badgering from media, Speaker Bebot Alvarez now talks about a possible loan from China in order to build a bridge across. The current GM of the Ports Authority for his part is talking about a bigger and better passenger terminal.  Getting the loan and building the bridge will not get done during the Duterte administration and the problem with building a new and bigger terminal is that it won’t reduce the congestion that builds up for kilometers outside the terminal.

Locals in the area have long pushed for the construction of a secondary port in a nearby town that is 15 to 25 minutes away. By building a second port, the PPA can assign one for passenger use only while the other can be for trucks and commercial vehicles only. Another idea is to terminate the route of Luzon based buses at the Matnog port, passengers take the ferry across and board another bus at the Allen port. This will reduce the volume of buses piling up, create more employment and business on both side.

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After writing about a senior citizen who got billed a couple of thousand pesos for rebooking to an earlier flight, I got a call from my former colleague in media Charo Logarta who is now with Cebu Pacific. Charo wanted to know if the airlines involved was their company or not. For the record, I intentionally did not mention what airline it was because I’m not in the habit of launching Shame campaigns and my purpose for writing about the matter is to call EVERYONE’s attention to the overly complicated application of the Senior Citizens Discount as well as the fact that senior citizens are sometimes robbed of the discount when they are billed for rebooking to an earlier flight or charged for excess baggage etc.

I do compliment Charo and Cebu Pacific for their immediate reaction because this was never the case in the past. I found out from Charo that Cebu Pacific do try their best to address the situations of senior citizens, PWDs etc., but in spite of that, the sad reality is that many people ruin or spoil things by falsely claiming to be senior citizens or PWDs in their on-line bookings. I have witnessed this myself when I go through airports.

I have seen “normal” and healthy passengers getting out of cars, loitering outside airport terminals. Then their alalays call in porters or airport staff to bring out wheel chairs. These people do so in their laziness to walk, to stand in line and do what they are well able to do. Then they have the audacity to ask or buy “Emergency Exit seats” not realizing that if you are physically or psychologically challenged to help in an emergency, you are NOT allowed to take an emergency seat.

Whatever the case may be, it is clear that people who try to cheat or get ahead of others are not just gaining an unfair advantage, they also end up depriving others of their much needed benefits.

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