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Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Bicycle lanes and rising oil prices
By Antonio V. Osmeña
Estatements
Cities are no longer nice to live in. People have to face daily problems related to over population: traffic snarls; housing shortage; high rent; lack of parking space; increasing fare; deteriorating and inefficient public transportation systems; loud music in public; crime; air and water pollution; and long lines at grocery stores, banks, movies and restaurants. And recently, the unprecedented increase in oil prices and its effect on urban transport systems in the country.
Transportation systems and options in urban areas are major factors that determine the spatial pattern, degree of sprawl, and rate of economic growth of an urban area.
People in urban areas move from one place to another through three major types of transportation: individual transit (private car, taxi, motorcycle, moped, bicycle, or walking); mass transit (railroad, subway, trolley and bus); and para-transit (carpools, jitneys or van taxis traveling along fixed routes, and dial-a-ride systems). Each type has its advantages and disadvantages. But for a particular urban area to decide which system to adopt, the fuel crisis must be considered.
Metro Cebu’s transport problem is not as complicated as it is in the capital region. Establishing a successful urban transportation system would require a mix of individual, mass transit, and para-transit methods that will suit Metro Cebu.
Bicycles won’t replace cars in urban areas, but its use should be encouraged.
The Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH), together with local government units, should delineate bike lanes and establish secure parking for bicycles. DPWH should allot part of its highway funds for the building of bicycle lanes. The department needs the political will of local government leaders to designate one lane of Cebu’s national road network for bicycles.
The bicycle—which uses no fossil fuels and is produced with fewer resources—is very useful for trips under eight kilometers that make up about 75 per cent of all urban travel. Besides, in heavy traffic, cars and bicycle move at about the same average speed. Indeed, between 1984 and today, more bicycles than cars were sold in the United States and West Germany. The United States Department of Transportation estimates about five million cyclists saving about 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
Now is the time for our country to determine which mix energy alternatives will provide primary power for the future. We need to know how much of what types of primary energy, such as low-temperature heat, high-temperature heat, electricity, and liquid fuel for transportation, are needed.
Then we project the mix of energy alternatives-–including energy efficiency—to answer the demand, at the lowest cost with acceptable environmental impacts.
Since the 1973 oil embargo, there has been no major effort to gather information to help our country develop a long-term energy strategy. Our disoriented political leaders have failed to develop a realistic long-term energy strategy. And now they want to ration liquid fuel for transport.
(August 24, 2005 issue)
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