 |
| “Rosario Street Manila, P.I.; 1588; 1926.” University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. |
The Third World Studies Center, in
collaboration with the National Center for Transportation Studies and
the Geography Department of the College of Social Sciences and
Philosophy of the University of the Philippines, has been awarded by the
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs an Emerging
Interdisciplinary Research Grant (2015-2017).
The Mass Transit System in Metro Manila:
From Tranvia to MRT, 1879-2014
Program leader: Dr. Ricardo T. Jose
Executive Summary
The
proposed study, though largely historical in approach and structure,
draws on the disciplines of geography, transportation studies, and
political economy to put together a comprehensive and critical survey of
mass transit plans for (Metro) Manila, focusing in particular for this
research phase on the rail network that services the metropolis. This is
evidenced by the institutions and academics that have come together to
draw up this proposal, namely those from the Third World Studies Center,
the National Center for Transportation Studies, and the Department of
Geography. The core group may still expand as the project commences.
On
a theoretical note, reading these varying configurations across time
will be informed by a particular understanding of the political economy
of ideas and institutions. This particular strand of political economy
relies on the critical examination of the idea versus interest continuum
and how this contrasting, yet linked, understanding on what drives
economic, technocratic, and public policymaking shape the interpretation
and implementation of select ideas regarding mass transit planning
(Campbell 1998; Steinmo 2008).
The immediate focus on
plans and its eventual (non-)execution aims to highlight the varied
contexts (social, economic, cultural, political, and even technological)
that configured the present-day mass transit system in Metro Manila.
The
proposed study will inevitably include other public transport modes but
would be focused on mass transit including rail and bus. While jeepneys
are not formally classified and recognized as a mass transport mode
these will be included in the analysis and discussions as they provide
services along corridors that are supposed to be served by traditional
mass transit. Upon conclusion of the project, these can serve as the
next phase/new research proposal.
Hence for this
study, the first priority is to identify, locate, and evaluate all plans
related to mass transit—from the tranvia in cosmopolitan Manila at the
end of the nineteenth century to the present light rail transits of
Metropolitan Manila. Next is a genealogy of contexts: Who proposed what
to whom? What did these proposals lead to? How were these plans
evaluated by those in positions to make them possible? Why were those
built, built the way they were? How were they built and by whom? What
sections of the plans were relegated to the dustbin of history? What and
who influenced those who made the plans? Those with the power and
finances to make them possible, what were in their minds when they
decided to build the mass transit systems in Metro Manila? Was it all a
question of money and influence, of market efficiency, and not of public
service? These questions have not fully been explored before and
answering it, as is the intent of the project, will give a deeper
context to the present-day problem in mass transit in Metro Manila.
The
study, however, does not want to end its close scrutiny of mass transit
plans and its contexts with a plan to end all plans. Instead, it will
be a tightly-knit series of academic critiques of the current mass
transit predicament in Metro Manila drawn from the disciplines of
history, transport studies, geography, and political economy. This is
what makes it a pioneering study. This is a study that questions both
the received wisdom and the supposed alternatives.
Four core projects and their proponents:
Project
1. A history (both text and audiovisual documentary) of the railway
systems from the colonial Manila (1879) up to the present Metropolitan
Manila (2014) as gleaned from plans and the built infrastructures
Co-project leader: Prof. Marco Lagman, Department of Geography, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman
Project
2: A GIS rendering of the evolution of the railway system in Metro
Manila as well as those which were put into plan but remains unexecuted
Co-project leader: Dr. Dan Mabazza, Department of Geography, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman
Project 3: A critical transportation engineering review of the of the mass transit system in Metro Manila, focusing on railways
Co-project leader: Dr. Jose Regin Regidor, National Center for Transportation Studies, UP Diliman
Project
4: An oral history on the politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, and
academics who were involved in planning, designing, funding, and
building the Metropolitan Manila mass transit system
Co-project leader: Dr. Ricardo T. Jose, Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman
For any inquiries, please send your correspondence to the Program Manager Elinor May Cruz at uptwsc@gmail.com.
