BWorld 215, Urban mobility index and transport disruption

* This is my column in BusinessWorld last week, May 24.

As incomes rise around the world, they tend to stay within cities, urban hubs, and rural areas on the cusp of urbanization. Congestion follows as a result, even if property developments are done vertically.

After searching for an international transportation or mobility index that includes Metro Manila or the Philippines, I found one made by the Arthur Little Consultancy. They developed the Urban Mobility Index, a point system with 100 points as the perfect score.

The index is composed of three groups of urban mobility systems: Maturity of the system (36 points), Innovation (24 points), and Performance (40 points), with nine topics in each group. These are: Transport-related CO2 emissions, NO2 concentration, PM10 concentration, PM2.5 concentration, Traffic-related fatalities, Increase share of public transpo (PT) in modal split, Increase share zero-emission modes, Mean travel time to work, and Motorization level.

The second biggest group, Maturity, and its nine topics are: Financial attractiveness of PT, Share of PT in modal split, Share of zero-emission modes, Road density, Cycle-path network density, Urban agglomeration density, Public-transport frequency, Urban mobility initiatives, and Urban logistics initiatives.

About 100 cities worldwide are covered. Surprisingly, Metro Manila has scored moderately and not in the lowest group of cities (see Table 1).

People may wonder why Metro Manila has ranked higher than Osaka or Sydney or Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps the surveyors and researchers covered only the EDSA area where a train — however cramped — exists and jeepneys and tricycles are banned. Vehicles move along at slow speeds during rush hours.

Disruption in urban mobility was first made by MRT/LRT a few decades ago. However, an increase in capacity was few and far in between, resulting in a persistent “transport crisis.”

The second round of disruption was made by vans and UV expresses, which help ferry passengers from high density locations and help them avoid taking multiple rides to their destinations.

However, this local initiative was restricted by the government via the LTFRB as it severely limited the franchising of UV express vehicles and heavily penalized vans that were “colorum (unregistered).”

A third round of disruption was introduced by a multinational company, US-based Uber. It was so successful, it inspired a regional competitor, Singapore-based Grab, to offer the same service.

Unfortunately, the LTFRB kept to its antiquated regulations, restricting the number of cars to serve both Uber and Grab. It later penalized Uber with a substantial fine.

Plagued with its own financial issues, Uber later decided to quit Southeast Asia and merge with Grab.

Meanwhile, actions of the LTFRB leave much to be desired.

Of the 19,000 Uber drivers, only 11,000 were absorbed by Grab since these were the only ones accredited by the LTFRB.

Some 6,000 former Uber drivers are still waiting accreditation and are unable to drive for Grab because they are not in the LTFRB master list while some 2,000 ex-Uber drivers have possibly given up (see Table 2).

Grab Philippines Country manager Brian Cu brought this up during his presentation during the BusinessWorld Economic Forum 2018 on May 18 at Grand Hyatt Hotel, BGC in Taguig City. The forum’s theme was “Disruptor or Disrupted: The Philippines at the Crossroads.”

Ride-sharing and TNVS scheme are disruptors in urban mobility system and thousands of commuters have benefited. The LTFRB and government bureaucracy have disrupted this in their own way, resulting in increased inconvenience for TNVS passengers.

To this day, the LTFRB continues to control fares and cap surge pricing, a move that discourages drivers from getting incentives for picking up passengers even in inhospitable areas. This, despite the fact that the agency has already limited the number of accredited drivers, as discussed previously.

Providing comfortable, convenient, and safe transportation is not a crime and government has no business limiting this kind of entrepreneurship. Government should instead further expand competition, stay away from price and fare control, and allow commuters to have more choices.

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See also:

BWorld 207, Fare control and surge cap are wrong, May 10, 2018

BWorld 213, Disruption, inflation and taxation, May 23, 2018 

BWorld 214, Disruption in global economic power, May 24, 2018 

BWorld podcast 2, TNVS fare and surge control are wrong, May 26, 2018

The Kill list and drugs war

10+ murders a day since President Duterte came to office. Horrible. The dead can not defend themselves anymore if they were indeed drug pushers or addicts or innocent, patay na nga eh. I support Pres. Duterte's admin reforms in many sectors but NOT state-sponsored murders. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/794942/drug-related-killings-hit-72-since-june-30

July 1, 14 murders; July 2, 12 murders; July 3, 19;... Utak murderers na mga pulis dito. Even if only 1 of those murdered is innocent, that's still 1 state-created injustice and murder. anak ng... http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/794598/kill-list-drugs-duterte

Now many people, including sensible and well-educated people are turning a blind eye or even egging the killers and encouraging them. Sipsipan na. Independent-minded NGOs, media and academics kuno, tapos biglang halleluiah to Pres. Duterte and silent to these murders. It is ok to say halleluiah to some or many of his reforms, I do that too, but NOT state-sponsored or Duterte-inspired murders.

I suspect that these supposedly independent people and are deafeningly silent on those Du30-inspired murders are lining up for some consulting work with the Du30 government, or asking for juicy positions. They cannot afford to invite the ire of the govt who can give them multi-million pesos consulting work.

The PNP, perhaps they are not in the mood or lazy to do hard investigation and gather plenty of evidence to secure conviction, so the remedy is to kill suspects. Kesyo nang-aagaw ng baril, kesyo gusto tumakas.

In the Rule of Law Index 2015 Report by the World Justice Project (WJP), the PH ranked very low in Factor 8, "Criminal Justice" compared to its neighbors in East Asia. In particular, sub-factor on Discrimination in the justice system is very low. Meaning pag may kakilala, lusot. Also low score in sub-factor on criminal investigation. Short cut, kill agad. 

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=Criminal-justice-and-the-Duterte-presidency&id=129674 

Konti pa siguro mga yan na napatay, but government should not make short cuts on due process. Even assuming that 95% of those outrightly murdered are indeed drug pushers, there is still the 5% or even 1% innocent but already dead -- killed by the state. Ang mahirap dito, utak murder na madaming tao.

In the WJP's rule of law index report, SG, JP, Kor, HK have very high scores in criminal justice and hence, no need for state-sponsored murders and summary execution policy. It is the enforcement of existing laws and near-certainty of conviction and jails that reduce or prevent those criminal behaviors. 

Blackstone's formulation in criminal law is, "it is better that ten guilty persons escapes than that the one innocent suffer."

If that "only one" murdered person is known or dear to the supporters of state-sponsored murders, I don't know how they will react. More civilized Asians like SG, Korea, Japan, etc. have no state-sponsored murders policy. They have death sentence, like SG, but the victim still goes through the process, have the chance to defend himself/herself in court, process has transparency. Here, no due process, no transparency, kill agad. Very uncivilized, little or no investigation, trabahong tamad.

Meanwhile, this:

"That’s why I am not including Abu Sayyaf [activities] in criminality. You’ve never heard me say (they are) criminal(s). It is a different setup there because these are the guys who were driven to desperation... There is no sufficient semblance of governance and that is why they are pushed to the wall,” he said, adding: “Then they became radicalized.”

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/140790/duterte-says-abus-not-criminals-blames-us-for-mideast-violence

Anong klaseng justification yan, President Digong? The Abus ARE criminals. They are murderers, kidnappers for ransom, terrorists, killers. Get them, armed murderers, or pa simple lang because they are armed, unlike the suspected, unarmed and helpless poor people suspected of being drug addicts/pushers?

Two Canadians so far been beheaded because the ransom money the Abus demanded could not be met, and they are not criminals? Naunsa naman ni. Double standard palagi. Pag Abus and CPP-NPA, non-criminals; pag ordinary drug suspects, criminals, kill agad.

Christmas Notes 4: Thanks to International Policy Network (IPN)

This Christmas 2011, I want to thank a few groups and friends whose help has allowed our think tank, Minimal Government Thinkers, Inc. survived the past few years with their various support and assistance.

First on my list is the International Policy Network (IPN), a private and free market think tank and charity organization based in London, UK. It is headed by Julian Morris, who was also an Economics Professor at the University of Buckingham. Julian has moved to the US as VP of Reason Foundation, another free market think tank based in LA and Washington DC, USA, but Julian retained his position at the IPN.

My partnership with IPN started in June 2005, when they organized the Global Development Summit, a one-day international conference arguing for more free trade, not more foreign aid. It was set more than a week before the G8 Summit in Scotland, UK. I was one of the panel speakers then, along with Barun Mitra and Mohit Satyanand (Liberty Institute, India), Franklin Cudjoe (IMANI, Ghana), James Shikwati (IREN, Kenya), Leon Louw (Free Market Foundation, S. Africa), and several others.

The G8 summit then was met with very strong lobby by various groups and NGOs worldwide, led by British rock stars Bob Geldoff and Bono of U2, to "fight poverty" or "make poverty history" via more foreign aid by governments of rich countries, to the governments of poorer countries in Africa and other developing world.

I cannot find my pictures there, but I composed a song, "I don't like more aid" which we sang -- along with Julian, other speakers on stage during the conference -- to the tune of "I don't like Mondays" made by Bob Geldoff and his rock band then in the 80s or late 70s. See the lyrics here,  Rockin' Geldoff and Foreign Aid (November 20, 2005).

It was also my first time to set foot in London and UK. I liked that city, very clean and so many public parks, but things are so expensive.

Our second engagement with IPN was when we held the "Symposium on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Health" in early September 2007, at Manila Hotel. It was an MG-IPN forum, we made the local preparations and invites, IPN provided the funding. The speakers were Philip Stevens of IPN and Bibek Debroy from India. The moderator was Dr. Epictetus Patalinghug, Professor at the UP College of Business Administration, also MG adviser.

Philip and Bibek (2nd and 3rd from right) talked, among others, about the importance of innovation in medicine development, other measures that the WHO and Health Departments or Ministries of governments can do like improving the health infrastructure, expanding the generic drugs sector, and not become too focused on drug patents and pricing of newly-developed medicines. They also briefly talked about the social health insurance system in UK and India.

In the afternoon of that day, Philip and Bibek also spoke at the UP College of Pharmacy auditorium, the event was jointly organized by the College and the UP Debate Circle, where MG VP Robin Lucas, was a leader. The audience were mostly pharmacy and nursing students and faculty members.

Prior to the IPN-MG symposium, I was not reading and writing about the "Cheaper Medicines Bill" then which was hotly debated in Congress. After that activity, I started writing about the bill and on intellectual property rights (IPR). By 2008, IPN gave MG some modest funding, just sufficient to pay off some debt as MG was operating in previous years with practically no funding.

Philip was also the editor of a well-written book, Fighting the Diseases of Poverty, published in 2007 (330 pages). I was one of the minor co-authors in two of its nine chapters.

Since then, IPN would be publishing more papers and studies on health, free trade, climate and energy, and MG Thinkers would be among the international co-sponsor think tanks and organizations of those publications.

Keeping it Real, May 2009

Do Stronger IPRs Deliver the Goods (and Services) in Developing Countries?, October 12, 2010

Seven Myths About Green Jobs, August 2010

Two more papers on health:
1. Producing medicines for chronic disease in less developed countries, May 2010
2. A Safe Medicines Chest for the World, May 2010

IPN also organized a few small meetings for some Asian free market think tanks, the latest was the "Think Tanks IPR Meeting" held in Singapore in late January 2011.

I was one of 4 speakers in that meeting. The three other speakers were Amir Ullah Khan of Bangalore Management Academy in India, Philip Stevens and Julian Morris.

Finally, IPN also organized a few international projects like the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change (CSCCC), a network of free market-oriented think tanks and NGOs from many countries who do not believe in climate alarmism and global ecological central planning project by the UN, Al Gore, foreign aid agencies and many country governments.

The Freedom to Trade  (F2T) international coalition was also initiated by IPN and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

In all these international coalitions and networking activities initiated by IPN, MG Thinkers was a member or partner, the only Philippine-based think tank which has been so honored to be invited to such prestigious network.

This year though, IPN suffered some financial constraints, but it's still there. Some of its hard-working staff like Philip and Alec van Gelder have moved on to find other jobs.

I am truly and sincerely thankful to IPN and Julian Morris for their various support extended to MG Thinkers over the past few years. I would even say that without IPN, MG Thinkers would have been back to an obscure organization operating on debt.

There are other organizations that support MG Thinkers in kind. I will write about them in the next few days.
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See also:
WHO is trampling freedom of expression?, November 07, 2007
Liberty, democracy, price control and tax competition, October 17, 2009
Green jobs are myth, September 04, 2010
Drug price control 3: Cost containment and long-term costs, January 27, 2011
IPR and medicines, Part 1, March 04, 2011

Pilipinas Forum 8: On the Abu Sayyaf

(This is what I submitted to inq7.net on June 20, 2001, Pilipinas Forum's column.)

Exchanges on the Abu Sayyaf, 2001

Yes, my family and I were there. Yes, we were in the island resort when these 24 armed men docked at the main pier around 5:00 am today (May 27) in their tri-engined Volvo-Penta powered "kumpit". We were in the island resort when they forced open the bay cottages and took hostage 20 guests, 4 of the island resort's staff, and loaded the hostages on to their "kumpit". We were on the island resort when the kidnappers decided that these hostages were enough (Thank God!) and would slow down their "kumpit". We were THAT CLOSE to becoming kidnap victims and maybe just another lousy statistic.

Lawlessness. Wanton, brazen & audacious. It is real and it never sleeps. Think about that if only for a moment.

-Sam Aherrera

There are lawless elements in the society that are beyond hope and rehabilitation. The negative impact imposed by the kidnappers/bandits to ordinary citizens goes beyond the pecuniary and psychic costs. There's also the societal cost in terms of drop in tourist arrivals (a deathknell to the tourism industry actually) and lower foreign investments.

It should be noted, as an afterthought to the discussions on the poverty issue, that providing pro-poor programs, infra. sevices, etc. are necessary but not the sufficient conditions needed to spur the country's growth. Peace and order is the precondition to all of these growth strategies/programs. That means we should get rid of all these penguins, jokers, riddlers, luthors, banes, etc. Let the terrible swift sword of dark justice fall upon them!

-Glenn de Guzman

Pursue those *ssholes and shoot them. I don't believe in coddling them, not with 6-month extended negotiations, not with libyan ransom money (could have been money laundering for all we know, definitely was pabango money, at the very least), not with ceasefire policies. No more. These bullies should learn that hostage taking does not pay. Feel very very sorry for the victims and really I wouldn't know what to do if i were in their or their families' shoes. They deserve to be rescued, and safe and sound in their own homes. now, more then ever, i wish that those rambo-like characters were true to life and that they could go in to the bad guys' lair and blow their brains off and still manage tosave each and every one of the victims with minimal damage. sigh!

-Mayeen Magno

This kidnap for ransom business is becoming lucrative for these bandits. Thanks to ransom money paid for previous kidnappings, they now have the "capital" to launch long range operations. I just heard reports the Volvo-powered kumpits are almost twice as fast as our Navy vessels in the area. I hope this doesn't send the wrong signals to other armed groups that there is money in this exercise.

I just hope we in the forum are 100% united that these people hold no ideological pursuits whatsoever. I believe they are in fact destroying the reputation of Muslim Filipinos to the rest of the world. I wonder what the common sentiment is, including those of Muslim communities. This is important if we are to gain support of civilians to find the culprits. They may easily find coddlers if some people still believe in their false cause.

-GiLBerT Cunanan