Best subway and ground train models for Phl to emulate (Part I)

From a Filipino reader of my series of columns on city planning comes this comment: “I enjoyed reading your article on Comparing the City Planning of Manila and Sidney. It gives me an insight of how Sydney and Manila evolved in different directions. It is well-written, very informative and gives us a short history of Manila and Sydney. I would call it a Tale of Two Cities.  

“It’s a revelation that the Philippines is still lagging in every aspect of life. If a metropolitan city is going to be livable and robust, planning is a must. If nothing is done to upgrade the way of life, Manila will experience a slow death.  A case in point is Detroit, Michigan. More than 100 years ago, it had been predicted that the city was going to choke to death, because skyscrapers were being built all over the place, freeways and streets were not wide enough, transportation was being made without much thought, and etc. Sure enough, it did happen. There had been an exodus of young people and businesses leaving Detroit a few years back, and the city went bankrupt. There is hope though, as the city is trying to rebuild its image by correcting its mistakes, and putting its public finances in order. One of the key things they have been doing is “planning” – if they want to attract people to live and do business again in this once great city.”

After 40 years abroad, Engr. Andaya’s impression of the Philippines

Nestor “Sonny” Andaya is a Filipino mechanical engineer who left for San Francisco in the 70s with three children. He and his wife Coleen were graduates of the Mapua Institute of Technology when they found steady jobs in the top engineering firms of Fluor Corp. and Bechtel Enterprises. Then 20 years ago, Mr. Andaya founded his own engineering firm. By then he had already worked on subway and airport projects in San Francisco, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. Now retired, the World Bank calls on him regularly as a consultant for subway projects. He is presently involved in the upgrading of the BART subway and surface train systems of San Francisco.

After an absence of 40 years, Nestor eagerly paid a visit to the Philippines and his hometown of Calasiao, Pangasinan. He observed: “…the Philippines should have a different mentality if we are going to compete with our Asian neighbors. Planning is a must, and the elected officials should have the political will to do big changes and implement policies. The people of the Philippines should be actively involved.”

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)

Engineer Andaya explained the mechanics of this transport system: “The BART opened and begun its operation in 1972 as a high-speed electric rail network serving the San Francisco Bay Area, connecting outlying suburbs with job centers in San Francisco. BART had been built to ease traffic congestion, and to preserve the Bay Area as a place to live and work by preventing the total dependence on automobiles. It is a mix of above ground and underground rapid transit. The underground/subway is nine-storys below downtown San Francisco. In addition a Transbay Underground Tube had been built 135 feet beneath the Bay Bridge to cross the bay.”

“The maximum speed of BART is 128 km per hour with an average speed of 70 km per hour. There are approximately 450-transit car fleet and 54 stations, which are pleasant and conveniently located. Out of these 54 stations, 18 stations are shared, or are on the same location.”

“There are four lines that service the following cities where many Filipino families reside, namely: 1) Fremont to Daly City – a distance of 65 km., 2) Dublin to Daly City – a distance of 67 km., 3) Richmond to Daly City to Milbrae – a distance of 42 km., and 4) Pittsburg to Daly City to San Francisco Int’l Airport – a distance of 85 km.”

During my recent visit to San Francisco, I had the experience of riding the BART from Hayward to Powell Street Station. When I got out I realized that it was directly connected to a huge mall that housed the high-end store of Macy and Nordstrom with numerous well-known retailers in between. This was one of the most devastated areas of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. A beautiful dome on the top floor, like that found at the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., memorializes the event together with a cluster of elegant eateries beneath it.

Nestor continues, “At present there is a subway project that is approximately 3 km. long, and will see completion in 2019. This project will generate economic competitiveness for the city as a regional and national hub. It is a pollution-free transit alternative that reduces congestion. This subway project will be directly connected to BART and CALTRAIN, the two largest commuter rail services in the Bay Area; and will connect the future high-speed train, the “Bullet Train,” which is being constructed to date. The funding of the subway project is provided by the Federal Government, the State of California and the City of San Francisco.”

The New York City Subway

New York population is 8.406 million spread out into five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island that speak 800 languages. Except for Staten Island, the rest of the boroughs are served by the New York City Subway. In operation are 469 stations serving 56 million tourists yearly, as well students of its 120 colleges and universities.

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York Transit Authority. It is one of the world’s longest. Overall, the New York City Subway contains 233 miles of routes, translating into 660 miles of revenue track, and a total of 846 miles including non-revenue trackage. By annual ridership, the New York City Subway is the busiest rail system in the United States and in the western world, as well as the seventh busiest rail system in the world. In Asia, the metro (subway) systems in Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Moscow, Tokyo and Guangzhou also record a high annual ridership.

All services of the New York railway system pass through Manhattan except for the G train, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and the Rockaway Park Shuttle. Large portions of the subway outside downtown Manhattan are elevated, on embankments or in open cuts, and a few stretches of track run at ground level. In total, 40 percent of track is not underground despite the “subway” nickname. Many lines and stations have both express and local services. A line may have three or four tracks. Normally, the outer two are used for local trains, while the inner one or two are used for express train. Stations served by express trains are typically major transfer points or destinations. The New York Subway operates for 24 hours, seven days.

My Line manager for human resources, Debbie, is married to Danilo Apiado, a Filipino electrical technician in the NYC subway cable maintenance operation since 1989. He was working in the office when the September 11 Twin Tower bombing happened. Debbie, who regularly visits him, would always take the subway. She recalls that it was not safe to take the subway until Mayor Rudolph Guiliani took over (the American version of Mayor Duterte of Davao, and current presidential candidate). To this day, Mayor Giuliani is widely credited with reducing crime, making the city cleaner, and upgrading quality of life for most New York citizens during his tenure, 1993-2001. Once controversial for his strong personality and for getting rid of anyone who disagreed with him, his leadership following the attack on the World Trade Center rallied a stunned city and won praise at home and abroad.

New York highlights

With its skyscrapers, great museums and bright lights of Broadway, New York is a city of the highest order. My husband Max, who studied at Fordham and lived in the Bronx, called it his second hometown; while my cousin Marilou Quiogue Lutz, who kept an apartment across the UN headquarters in Manhattan when she worked as an executive secretary in a Jewish law office at Park Avenue, called it home.

Celebrated in many Hollywood films, the iconic 101-floor Empire State Building still has its Observatory of the city on the 86th floor that draws many tourists annually. On Valentine’s Day couples are married on the 80th floor and can become members of the Empire State Wedding Club. Other highlights are the Broadway Theater district, Times Square, Rockefeller Center close to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the UN headquarters; American Museum of Natural History, the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, Guggenheim Museum, Fifth Avenue and the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island that is the symbol of America’s immigrant heritage. From 1892 to 1954 it was the arrival point of 12 million refugees fleeing religious persecution, poverty, or unrest in their homelands. Their descendants comprise almost 40 ercent of today’s US population.

Perhaps we need Duterte to make things work in the Philippines

Who can bring the Philippines into the 21st century by getting our mass transport system to work? Who can tow the line with government agencies and get them disciplined to deliver efficient services, like the MRT and LRT, to the public? How can we have a bigger and stronger police force in every city, thus putting an end to the daily crimes that stalk defenseless citizens? Who can fill up the local governments with truly educated, highly cultured, moral and forceful leaders? Who can lead in the transformation of the country, mobilize the citizenry, and get on with the work of nation building long stalled by ineptitude and corruption? We need a president who has a vision of an incorruptible and vigorous nation, a seasoned politician who has earned the collective trust of his constituents for uplifting their lives, a purposeful leader admired for his track record of transforming his city into an organized entity, but at the same time who seeks to equalize opportunities for all.

(Part II – “Subway Systems of Paris, London….”)

(For feedback, email at [email protected])