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British physicist and mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton
(1642-1727) was known for his contributions to classical mechanics and physics.
His famous theory, which I remember from high school, is the so-called
“Newton’s Laws of Motion.”
Having done research on various social and economic
issues for many years, it dawned upon me that Newton’s three laws can be
applied to society as well, especially on how the government attempts to solve
the daily traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other big cities in the
country.
Below are Newton's Laws of Motion and my
re-interpretation when they are applied to Philippine society.
The first law -- A body at rest (or in motion)
will remain at rest (or in motion) unless an external force is applied on it -- as
applied to society: Bureaucracy in command-and-control will remain in that
state unless the distortion they created is applied on them.
A new government policy banning provincial buses from
entering Manila and Makati is a clear example that the bureaucracy is terribly
detached from the needs of many provincial passengers. The government simply
left tens of thousands of bus passengers stranded along Roxas and Macapagal
boulevards with no alternative to get to their destination quicker. For those
able to catch in-city public utility vehicles (PUVs) had to spend extra, making
public transport costlier, more time consuming and more inconvenient. This was
despite government efforts to leave their cars and take public transportation
so traffic and air pollution are reduced.
Many government officials live in Metro Manila, not in
the provinces. For those who live outside, even if they take the bus, there are
red plate cars waiting for them at the bus stations. The bureaucracy is holed
up in command-and-control thinking because they have exempted themselves from
the distortions and inconvenience of the policy they imposed on the rest of
society.
The second law -- The acceleration of a body
is directly proportional to and in the same direction as the force acted on it,
and inversely proportional to its mass -- as applied to society: The
acceleration of bureaucratic policy is directly proportional to the central
planning philosophy applied on it and inversely proportional to its
intellectual mass.
The government tendency to blame private players car
owners, bus and van operators and drivers, and even passengers, thus policies
restrict them. Note here the recent proposal to expand the car use prohibition
(a.k.a, number coding) from one day a week to two days. The command-and-control
philosophy gives them the illusion of being right despite the paucity of
rational and scientific studies to support whatever new restrictions they wish
to implement. Government agencies do not see themselves and their policies
among the major causes of traffic congestion.
The third law -- For every action, there is an
equal and opposite reaction -- as applied to society: For every government
intervention, there is an equal and opposite distortion.
When government prohibits provincial buses to enter key
areas in Metro Manila to "reduce traffic,, passengers are first
inconvenienced, as shown by the
long lines of inconvenienced passengers from Cavite and Batangas on
the first day of the ban. But soon, many of these passengers will buy
second-hand cars or new motorcycles and drive to Metro Manila, and this will
worsen traffic congestion.
Newton also developed another theory, the "Law of
Universal Gravitation," which states thus: Every point mass in the
universe attracts every other point mass with a force directly proportional to
the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
Applied to society: Every untested idea in government
attracts another lousy proposal with a force directly proportional to the product
of their bureaucratic sizes, and inversely proportional to the square of any
rationality remaining in them.
This bureaucratic gravitational force is huge because the
numerator is big while the denominator is small. As government makes commuting
more time consuming, costlier and more inconvenient (the 2-3 rides become 3-4),
more people will either cramp in Metro Manila or buy more cars or motorcycles
to get to their destination quicker, or slower (due to more traffic) but more
conveniently and safer.
An alternative the government should consider is that
instead of segregating between Metro Manila and provincial buses, bus companies
should be allowed to choose their routes; for example, from Cavite to Fairview
or Monumento to Bulacan or C5 to Pasig-Marikina.
These buses can pick up and unload passengers along Edsa
or C5. Make the bus-train commute more convenient and cost-effective, and
many people will leave their cars at home.
In addition, many jeepneys and tricycles will die a
natural death, without creating a new law, administrative order or local
ordinance. And we shall have less traffic.
Let us encourage less, not more, government restrictions
and prohibitions. Government should focus on going after the real criminals,
like bus hold uppers, terrorist bombers, murderers and kidnappers, rapists and
molesters. Transporting provincial passengers to their offices or schools in
Metro Manila is not a crime.
See also:
Fat-Free Econ 41: Cut Income Taxes, April 08, 2013
Fat Free Econ 42: NSCB vs SWS Data on Poverty, April 30, 2013
Fat Free Econ 43: On the Philippines' Fast Economic Growth, June 04, 2013
Fat Free Econ 44: Deregulate Weather Forecasting, July 10, 2013
Transport Econ 8: Removing MRT and LRT Fare Subsidy, March 08, 2013
Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013
Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013
Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban, July 18, 2013
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