Car-centricity
Looking ahead, the Philippines is poised to maintain its car-centric culture despite improvements in public transportation.
Private vehicles will continue to dominate the roads, driven by individual and corporate preferences. Hybrid cars like Teslas will become more common, prized as symbols of status and as loopholes to avoid coding restrictions. Meanwhile, the popularity of unregulated vehicles such as e-bikes will rise, despite safety concerns, and ride-hailing apps like Grab and Angkas will persist with minimal alterations.
This car-centricity will be reinforced by infrastructure developments that prioritize roads over walkable cities. Influential figures favoring private cars and highways will impede the creation of pedestrian-friendly environments. Despite efforts to build alternative transport infrastructure like bike lanes, challenges such as car encroachment will persist.
Public spaces, such as parks, will take a backseat to malls, limiting socialization opportunities and contributing to ongoing traffic congestion and pollution.
In conclusion, the Philippines is likely to remain heavily reliant on private vehicles, perpetuating challenges associated with traffic congestion and environmental impact.
Selected Quotes
What's the point of a Tesla auto driving car if the roads aren't that well paved?
...[E]-bikes are selling. So probably, companies are are willing to sacrifice safety for being able to sell more units. So if they can come up with a device that seems [looks cool but is unsafe], if it gives them profit, they will probably be willing to do that.
Electric cars, yes. With my trust in the government, I don't think public transport is gonna be that different. Maybe new trains, maybe new buses that are electric.
The Philippines is full of malls. I don't think that's going away. We're not replacing those malls with parks. That's not something that the government will do. So I don't think shopping will progress that much in those years. The most that will happen is probably very tailored recommendations to you. [Maybe there'll also be] easier access for online shopping, but it's not gonna be the default [even during that time], I feel. Because...[there's not much we can do]: in the Philippines, malls are our tambayan (hangout) spots...We don't even go there to just shop, we go there because there's nothing else to do, and I don't think that's going away.
[The] most realistic [para] sa akin is [that] public transport will still be taken for granted. And what will happen is more cars...and other transportation; more private rather than public.
...[Transportation] is just gonna get worse. It's just gonna get worse. They like building these bridges; they like building these skyways. Why? Because they make money when they build it. Who's making these bridges again; who's the [San Miguel Corporation] guy? Ramon Ang...[he] makes so much money from this. He's gonna want to build another one, and the government will let him because...the government makes money from him too. So...I don't know how we're gonna fix this.
Right now, I'm mostly thinking about those, because with ride-hailing [apps] like Grab, I don't think anything will happen [to them] in the future. I think Grab, Angkas, etc. will be the same in two decades from now.
[In a probable future]...It'll just still be the same Manila traffic...
...[M]aybe...people will have Teslas or something to brag [about]. I don't know...I guess, there would be more hybrid vehicles....I have a hybrid car...because it doesn't have coding. So yeah, I think there would be a little bit more hybrid vehicles, but then we wouldn't have...[better] public transportation.
So magkakaroon ng mga bike lanes pero yun bara-bara pa rin siya so yung mga problems natin in transportation would more or less stay the same. Yung problema natin nagbibisikleta tapos yung mga nakamotor sumisingit sa mga bike lane.
Pero dadagdag yung pollution...yun yung medyo lalala.
Tapos mahihirapan tayo in developing yung mga budding cities kasi may influence yung mga elites na may mga kotse na, uy develop mo naman yung ganitong skyway and so on. So yung concept ng walkable cities would not happen even in newly developed provinces.
[The future will] [p]robably [be] worse. Because, I mean, like structurally, it's not looking good for us. I mean, my own main biggest issue again with the Philippines is that things that are very necessary for living in general are privatized. So...there's no reason for anybody to make this one big solution for the rest of the country if it means that they don't get a big part of it, or they don't profit most from it. But even, for example, [utility companies] like Maynilad, Meralco, [etcetera.], I'm like griping at it, because they're monopolies, but they don't serve the government. Or like they're not forced to change things for the betterment of the people. Like the only thing we can do is just bear with it, which is terrible. That comes into things like...for example, transportation. A lot of buses are still privatized, and the quality of public buses are not being improved either. So...even with technology, the only thing that's [creating] our solutions is somebody who sees the money or sees profit in offering that solution and giving it, instead of the solution coming from...taxes [spent by] the government...So for as long as we have that kind of mindset, there's so many solutions that could have happened, but just won't, because [companies] won't earn from it. So there are a lot of people who have made things like...e-commerce platforms, financial platform, [etcetera]...but it's hard to find a winner in a society where...number one, the [people's] spending power is not very good, and number two, when all of these privatizations make it hard to like save money at all, or like to spend in a different way compared to like...[going] without [privatization]...We're a great guinea pig place because of our technology adoption, but there's a reason why there's such a big barrier to us becoming a technology powerhouse for similar reasons.
I can't help but hope that things do get better. I did mention public transport when it comes to things like Grab and Angkas. I think that's here to stay. Depends on our generation, but to be optimistic, plausible that there will be more focus on public transport. To be pessimistic, we'll still be car centric but there will still be other ways to get by as there are.
I don't think they're gonna have enough programs that will...make [upgraded public transportation] the norm. Unless...by some miracle, you know, we get [former VP Leni Robredo] on top, I don't know. But yeah, and my point is...God, the realistic [scenario] is so pessimistic. My point is, I don't know, the Philippines progresses slow. That's a given. And then, I feel like by 2040, a lot of things are gonna still be the same. Like dude, 2023 right now, how different is it from the 1990s? We have cars, we have a train, we have taxi cabs, we have jeeps. So maybe 2023 to 2040, jeeps will be modernized, and I hope they do a good way of implementing that. Tricycles as well. All those...I feel like it's really just modernization, but nothing too big of a change.
