The most expensive wasted real estate

Very few people ever notice how the most expensive piece of real estate in Metro Manila is being wasted by the MMDA and the national government.

On a per square meter rate, this real estate probably costs about P0.5 million to P1 million per square meter, if not more. So, imagine owning so many kilometers of property worth P0.5 million to P1 million per square meter but not maximizing its use or benefit to the public? It would be considered a capital crime by any property developer or urban planner.

And yet the MMDA and the national government have designated such an expensive property for special use, only for a select group in compliance with a public health safety requirement, during the COVID pandemic that has long passed.

Ironically, the MMDA failed to develop this real estate into a safe space truly beneficial to its intended users. They simply painted a white line and placed illustrations or signs to signal who has rights on the most expensive wasted real estate on EDSA.

Years after the pandemic has passed, the exclusive real estate is now sorely under-utilized by its privileged patrons, to the disadvantage of the larger population of Filipinos who are prohibited from using the said space although they outnumber the privileged group by at least 50 to 1 or probably more.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the most expensive real estate I refer to is the “BICYCLE LANE” on EDSA. Yes, that one-meter-wide lane marked by white paint and lots of bicycle signs but very few cyclists using it.

At the height of the COVID pandemic, bicycles were the generally “safe” or the preferred mode of transportation for health workers who did not want to get COVID-19 but did not have their own car to go to work.

Mobility was restricted and riding bicycles on EDSA was not hazardous to your health or put you at risk of premature death. But with the pandemic now over, people soon found bicycle riding tiring, inconvenient and life threatening in the ocean of cars, trucks and motorcycles now swarming EDSA.

So, the herd of cyclists thinned out, leaving the bicycle lane mostly unused and wasted. Meanwhile many motorists using EDSA complain why motorcycle riders don’t use the meter-wide lane on the right side of EDSA instead of crisscrossing over two or three lanes.

Sorry, but the sign says they are not allowed to. In fact, some motorcycle delivery riders have complained that they were pulled over and fined for using the bicycle lane.

The original intention for a bicycle lane is to have a safe space for a means of transport that was generally common, numerous and popular, even necessary at the time. But if the intended users no longer have the numbers in contrast to the thousands of motorcycles, why not convert the bicycle lane to a shared lane between cyclists and motorcycle riders?

Contrary to claims that the twain shall never meet, or the two groups can’t blend, I say: Oh yes, they can, and I see it every time I drive along EDSA where they tail or follow each other on the right side of EDSA where there are no signs of the bicycle lane.

In the extreme case, the motorcycle riders should now be given the dedicated lane since they are the dominant population of vehicles and form of transport in Metro Manila and EDSA.

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The sight of stranded and stuck vehicles along a section of a tollway or main boulevard has become so common in the Philippines that people seem to simply accept it as part of typhoons, floods, etc. They just sit it out, pee in water bottles or use umbrellas to cover themselves for privacy as women pee on the road.

Why has the Toll Regulatory Board, DPWH, MMDA, etc. not bothered to implement long term or permanent solutions to such problems? If there is a dip or low area in a roadway that is constantly flooded during extended periods of rain, why not build concrete or steel “ramps” or fill and build up those low spots?

Considering the fact that several companies are already putting up reclamation projects beyond Roxas Boulevard, given the fact that the Chinese can create islands in the open sea, can’t Filipino engineers build up or “reclaim” the sunken portions of highways and expressways?

Similarly, how difficult is it to identify designated emergency exits or U-turn areas where dividers on tollways and highways are made of collapsible or easy-to-remove steel or even plastic barriers instead of those half-ton concrete barriers that require six-wheeler trucks with a boom and a winch just to relocate them.

Last Monday afternoon at about 3 p.m., there was a long delay for cars going up the Santolan flyover southbound because a bus had bumped or pushed a concrete barrier into the lane of private vehicles. The MMDA enforcer was helpless because he had to call in a tow truck.

Rain and floods maybe bearable but what if a fire or chemical explosion occurs, or if a poisonous chemical or gas leaks out? Do we just sit and wait until disaster comes our way? There should be systems in place that will restrict the entry or volume of cars entering a toll or main road or roads going into airports and ferry terminals when floods or power failures occur.

If the authorities won’t act on such problems that can easily be fixed, then let’s add to their concerns by telling everybody about their lazy attitude towards solving problems!

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