The IITS and human-centered mobility
Metro Cebu residents have every reason to be optimistic these days. With the election of local leaders who are friendly with Malacañang, big-ticket projects that need national government funding and cooperation are expected to flow with smooth sailing.
Among these projects is the much-touted Integrated Intermodal Transport System (IITS), which Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade announced Saturday that Cebuanos might start using in two years.
According to a report in The FREEMAN, the Department of Transportation is working together with stakeholders and local governments for the partial operability of the IITS in Cebu which will include a monorail, cable cars, and a Bus Rapid Transit system. Secretary Tugade even set a target - “at the earliest, end of the fourth quarter of 2021.”
According to Transportation Undersecretary Mark Richmond de Leon, they will also put in place bikeways, intermodal terminals, park and drive facilities, and walkways as part of the IITS.
Of these “basket of solutions,” the BRT and monorail hold much promise because as to the BRT, it has undergone studies and consultations already, while as to the monorail line, its implementation will be through Private-Public-Partnership. The latter, at least, carries with it the assurance that no private company will ever attempt to venture into a multi-billion partnership without reliable market and engineering feasibility and design studies.
But then again the devil is in the details, so it will be worth our time to scrutinize the fine details of the contracts that will be signed later.
It’s easy to get impressed by something because of what they show in scale and promise, especially if we never try to view them with respect to feasibility and design science. We can learn several lessons from the MRT/LRT debacle in Metro Manila. Among the issues, for example, is with whom are we going to assign the management and operation of the transportation lines.
I wrote here last year that in the MRT case, a capital-intensive but market-challenged (not enough middle-class commuters) transport system failed because the private consortium assigned to run and maintain the MRT-3, for example, did not have the incentive to keep up to standards.
As with many infrastructure projects and government programs in our country, the introduction of public transport systems seems to have preceded any empirical study that would ensure these transport facilities meet people’s needs.
I hope this is not the case with the IITS. I don’t want to sound like a spoiler to the seemingly exciting initiatives of our extra-motivated national and local leaders, with a new mandate to boot. But I am curious as to how the IITS will incorporate itself into the elements of Metro Cebu’s economic and social character and mobility.
There often is the tendency to miss out on the needs of actual users of transportation systems while everyone is awed and distracted by new yet pre-packaged transport systems and technology. The aim should not only be to ease the flow of traffic and to window dress our roads, but rather to develop a transport system that would improve the standard of living of the majority of the people including the poor commuters.
To quote leading transport system researchers Mitchel, Claris, and Edge (Engineering Journal, 2016): “Human-centered mobility puts the user directly at the heart of design and decision making. By adopting this approach, we can create efficient and resilient transport solutions that are mutually beneficial for both passengers and operators and which shape better cities and communities.”
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