The pandemic forced the world to adapt to the new normal, less social gatherings, extensive health and sanitation measures, and conscious physical distancing. But for growing economies, like the Philippines, the contrast between urban density and safety in shared spaces, particularly in public transportation systems, will play a role once the health crisis subsides.
The country started to ease its measure on community quarantine to save its economic position from the downside risks of the prolonged business closures. Exchanges of goods and services must take place to fuel market activities. According to Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman, Martin Delgra, the daily ridership in Metro Manila is around 12-million, mobility wise. Hence, social distancing measure amid the influx of people in public utility terminals and rail transits is unlikely to be observed without the use of visual cues and crowd control.[1] Other Asian countries have managed to keep their rail networks safe from the transmission risk of COVID-19 through contact tracing, centralized disinfection systems, and modernized payment schemes, where passengers can opt for a cashless payment transaction and have less-contact travel experience. These mitigating factors assure the safety in shared and confined spaces from emerging infectious diseases.
As the capital shifted back to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), the government prohibited the use of mass transportation to alleviate the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country. This is an opportunity for the transportation department to re-assess and re-evaluate the previous safety protocols for railway networks that are not limited to physical distancing, crowd control, and other health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID).
Figure 1: Social Distancing Reminder in Train Station
Photograph By: Analy Labor for the Daily Tribune @tribunephl_ana
Figure 2: PNR Seating Arrangement
Photograph by: GM Jun Magno from @DOTrPH twitter page
Figure 3: MRT-3 VISUAL CUES
Photograph from: @DOTrPH twitter page
The country’s rail network is composed of the LRT-1, LRT-2, and the MRT-3, which served around 200,000 – 500,000 passengers daily prior to the health crisis.[2] But with only 10% to 20% capacity per train car, it is expected that riders will face longer queues under the new normal, as a result, the DOTr will implement a skip train method to manage the volume of passengers in stations, where train efficiency is raised by skipping unpopular stations.
Meanwhile, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) recommended policymakers to consider the Avoid-Shift-Improve measure to keep the cities livable in the long-run. This measure aims to (1) avoid a no travel activity protocol; (2) to shift towards an active transport system like walking or cycling and promote clean public transport in buses and rails; and (3) to improve the quality of road networks that will assure safety in shared roads between motorized and non-motorized vehicles.[3]
Figure 4: Avoid-Shift-Improve Mass Transport Recommendation
Source: Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative
Likewise, visual cues are important signals of safety and, in time, it becomes part of our consciousness. These graphical cues are expected to communicate effectively to the people. However, there are several principles and concepts that must be taken into account to produce a material that is capable of communicating through the visual language.
In automobiles, visual and audio cues are used to assure the safety of both passengers and driver for switching lanes and while travelling itself. Likewise, in airplanes, in-flight safety procedures are demonstrated by the attendants accompanied with printed copies placed near the passenger seats. Same mechanisms should be applied to the railway transit. An activated button for proper social-distancing etiquette and installation of disinfection systems in the air vents of the train cabins should be made available for use, since it is expected that outbreaks will occur intermittently. Meanwhile, areas of sanitation in the point of entry and exit are to be strategically placed in areas that are highly visible to the passengers.
The human behavior is expected to be altered in the new normal. Similar with how people decide on which mode of transportation to take. In fact, during the 2003 SARS epidemic in Taiwan, the number of daily underground ridership were affected, which presents that there is an indirect correlation between perception of risk and the rate of return in underground ridership. About 50% of daily underground ridership were lost during the peak of the epidemic.[4]
While, in a study on social distancing in South Korea in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, results showed that the risk perception within the population increased drastically based on subway use. However, it was observed that risk perception decreases steadily over time. Different patterns were also observed in every station, which was classified based on age and purpose of visit. Where, in one leisure station, the number of ridership decreased directly implying an increased risk perception among the young population. [5]
Under these precedents, risk perception and human behavior should be considered in developing and designing a rail network. An efficient ergonomic design in a transportation system maximizes its use-value, while well-placed information graphics in mass transit terminals leads passengers to safety instead of peril. Normalizing the possibility of the occurrence of another health crisis will eventually prepare the society with how to cope and still maintain the activities in the market, hence preventing political and social collapse.
Written by: Thea Bathan
Aviso Valuation and Advisory Corp. is a real estate consultancy firm that offers valuation and business advisory services compliant to international standards such as the International Valuation Standards (IVS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). To assure that we only produce high-quality deliverables, as needed, we do tasks beyond the usual appraisal process like verifying pertinent property documents (i.e. land titles, tax declarations, etc.) with the appropriate government agencies for due diligence purposes prior the acquisition of the properties.
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References:
[1] https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1273213/over-2m-commuters-expected-to-use-public-transport-in-metro-manila-under-gcq-ltfrb
[2] https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/05/06/railway-sector-ready-to-serve-commuters-when-ecq-lifted-tugade/
[3] https://www.transformative-mobility.org/news/the-covid-19-outbreak-and-implications-to-public-transport-some-observations
[4] Wang K-Y (2014) How Change of Public Transportation Usage Reveals Fear of the SARS Virus in a City. PLoS ONE 9(3): e89405. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089405
[5] Park J. (2020). Changes in Subway Ridership in Response to COVID-19 in Seoul, South Korea: Implications for Social Distancing. Cureus, 12(4), e7668. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7668
