This story is part of a series on Metro Manila's cities and how they are promoting cycling and the use of bicycle lanes
MANILA, Philippines — When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered most of public transportation in Metro Manila, thousands looked to cycling to get to work. That was in early 2020.
Against the backdrop of the coronavirus-induced quarantines, the ripple effect in the cycling community has sustained itself to this day. In 2021, the Department of Transportation oversaw the construction of 313.12 kilometers of bike lanes in Metro Manila alone.
As in most of the government’s pandemic response, though, the heavy lifting was given to the local government units. City administrations, in turn, worked in silos and came out with different takes on how to repurpose their roads for the biking public.
Advocates have long called for a reimagination of how we use our roads. But what does this actually mean on the ground, and what can our individual efforts learn from each other?
Philstar.com spoke to the changemakers themselves, the transportation offices leading the charge in Metro Manila’s local government units, to find out.
Here's what San Juan City had to say about its bike lane network.
How did it start in San Juan?
The smallest city in the country bagged gold at the Mobility Awards earlier this year for being among the most bike-friendly city in the Metro.
Like other cities, San Juan also had a rudimentary and unprotected bike lane already mapped out, but it was the necessity posed by the coronavirus pandemic that prompted its expansion.
In an interview with Philstar.com, city information officer Brian Geli, who heads San Juan's urban mobility program, said the local government was already working on a historical bike trail with around 10 destinations for the initial launch.
The trail was designed to allow bikers to pass through landmarks such as the Pinaglabanan Shrine, Museo ng Katipunan, El Deposito Museum and El Deposito Underground Tunnel.
"We saw the need to provide mobility to our healthcare workers. During that time, there weren't any transport available to them and they had a hard time going to work," he said, saying the initiative was meant to supplement San Juan Medical Center's conversion into a COVID-19 hospital.
To implement the project, the local government partnered with EDSA Evolution, a group that advocates cycling and other forms of mobility as a staple on roads.
It started with the city's primary streets, where the city government installed bollards to protect the bikers from other vehicles and assigned separate bike, motorcycle, and car lanes along Ortigas Avenue.
Once the initial lanes were laid down, Geli said city hall also saw the need to provide brighter streets for cyclists riding out at night. This prompted the urban mobility project to push to trade in the old halogen lights on the streets for brighter LED lights.
Private sector partnerships: According to Geli, private entities started donating bicycles and e-tricycles to healthcare workers once the city's project was in full swing. That was when San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora saw the demand for protected lanes all over the city, he said.
While the initial efforts were all theirs, the city leaned on private sector entities primarily to expand its scale:
- The Active Playground in Greenhills Shopping Center helped provide bike lanes around the mall
- A partnership with Allianz PNB helped build the country's first solar-powered bike pit stop in the city
- The City Government also received a commitment from Meralco to replace the yellow halogen lamps in the city
The city attracted private sector support by marketing the tourism experience aspect of the bike lane. The trail also passes by the two oldest churches in San Juan – St. John the Baptist and Santuario del Santo Cristo – as well as other landmarks such as Club Filipino, Greenhills Mall Loop and the Marcos Mansion of the late dictator’s family.
RELATED: San Juan launches solar-powered bike pit stop
Today, the protected bike lane in San Juan includes LED lights on sidewalks, while the city council has ensured the passage of bike safety ordinances.
Culture shift, enforcement needed: Asked what the biggest challenge for the city government has been so far, Geli said it is the mounting costs of providing extra security and reinforcement to replace lane bollards damaged by motorists turning bicycle lanes into parking spaces or a way to avoid traffic.
From hundreds of bollards left on the city's bike lanes, Geli said the city was left with "less than a hundred" as of February. The city said it was waiting for the delivery of replacement bollards as of this post. "We're happy to spend money on this. Our priority is to provide a healthier lifestyle for our constituents."
"We still have a hard time trying to keep motorcycles off the bike lanes...the cars and trucks keep on hitting them. When traffic is heavy, they try to look for easier routes, and they're not very mindful," he said.
This, despite police officers and personnel of the city Public Order and Safety Office patrolling the streets of San Juan to enforce traffic laws and COVID-19 ordinances. The city has also already assigned separate bike, motorcycle, and car lanes along its side of Ortigas Avenue to little effect.
How do we address this? “We really do need a bit of a cultural shift...the problem that we have is really the discipline of the driving public," he said.
"We don't have enough enforcers to make sure that everyone follows the rules...our drivers think that they take priority over our bicycle riders when in fact if you look at the numbers you'll see that we actually have more cyclists."
Ultimately, Geli said that having leaders who buy into active transportation could also make all the difference in getting the general public to invest in the bike lanes, too.
FROM INTERAKSYON: Why some cyclists are avoiding bike lanes in Metro Manila
Differences in design philosophy: Geli said that establishing connectivity across different cities and jurisdictions was only a matter of communication, which he said the cities have had many opportunities to establish.
San Juan started first coordinating with Pasig and Mandaluyong given their proximity to one another. Asked about the task of connecting bike lanes of different designs though, Geli said he was hopeful that "the MMDA would help [us] coordinate with the other cities."
Beyond connectivity though, it seems as though differences in design philosophy were swept aside with the primary goal of establishing rudimentary lanes for bikers traveling from city to city.
"I think what’s important is that we have bike lanes, they’re protected, and our bike riders are safe," he was careful to point out.
Geli also pointed out that when the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Department of Transportation came in, it was the national government that helped to provide extra infrastructure for what is now one of the country's most bike-friendly cities. The DOTr helped repaint the lanes while the Department of Public Works and Highways installed reflectorized studs.
So despite the continuing design differences, he said it was important for local governments not to alienate the national government, with whom San Juan has established a warm working relationship.
Will city hall consider using wider concrete barriers later on? "As much as possible we'd like to stick to the bollards because they're smaller and because [they take] less space. Larger barriers mean less space for our bikers and of course our car drivers."
Will the city be willing to comply in the event a unified design is mandated by the national governmment? “I think so. Whatever works for our bikers, and whatever works for urban mobility.”
— with reports from The STAR