“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”
This quote, whose source has been obscured over time and digital wear and tear, has gained quite the traction in recent years. As the world’s societies grapple with urban congestion, pollution, and widening socio-economic inequities, a country’s transportation landscape has often become reflective and symbolic of the status of its populace.
World Bicycle Day was observed on June 3, but the day came and went with most of the population quite unaware of the occasion. Perhaps because we’ve been too comfortably cocooned in the comforts of our cars, SUVs, pick-ups, and MPVs. In fact, whenever a road is built, the first thing that comes to our minds is that cars will use the road. We tend to forget that it’s not cars, but people, who use roads. But that’s how high a pedestal we’ve put motorized vehicles on, to the point that a private car is more a necessity than a luxury. The irony of this is that we tend to pay less attention to mass transport, to the vehicles designed to move more people. Thus, our streets depict a confusing picture: Our roads are filled with cars, but only a minority of the population own cars.
In contrast, the most developed and progressive societies in the world present a clear representation of their society’s priorities on the road: Mass transport vehicles take priority space, followed by non-motorized transport (bicycles) that are given their exclusive lanes. Pedestrians are given wide walkways, where no motorized vehicles can intrude.
This disproportionate and confusing picture of Philippine road usage was brought up in 2023 by Robert Siy, co-convenor of transport advocacy group Move As One Coalition, during a stakeholders meeting at the headquarters of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in Pasig. He revealed that only about 6% of Filipino households own cars, while the vast majority of them depend on public transport and other modes of travel to get around.
Developed countries maintain vast green spaces in their urban centers, and there is an efficient mass transport system in place. People-centric and environment-friendly modes of travel are accessible; the roads are conducive to cycling, walking and other forms of personal transport.
It’s good to see that there are pockets of such in our cities. But these are still too few and far in between.
We also have to consider, of course, the ideal weather and temperate climate that make walking and cycling a safe and pleasurable experience. The tropical weather extremes that the Philippines is subjected to much of the year is one major hindrance. Many vulnerable individuals, like the elderly, need the protection and safety of cars.
Environmental epidemiologist Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera, a leader of the Climate Change and Health Research Group at the University of Bern, wrote in “The Climate Book” how anthropogenic climate change is responsible for one in three deaths due to heat today—specifically, 37% of heat-related deaths between 1991 and 2018. Vicedo-Cabrera said that “given that this substantial mortality burden is happening at 0.5-1 degree Celsius of warming, it is realistic to expect that this burden will grow in the coming decades, as warming progresses to levels above 2, 3, or even 4 degrees Celsius.
“Recent studies have projected that, under the most pessimistic scenario (that is, if emissions persist and no adaptation occurs), climate change will increase the current number of heat-related deaths by 10 times by the end of the century in regions such as southern Europe, Southeast Asia and South America,” said Vicedo-Cabrera.
“Importantly, current societal trends such as aging populations and increasing urbanization would act as amplifying factors, since larger heat-related risks are mostly observed in urbanized areas (due, in part, to the urban heat island effect), and among the elderly, who are especially vulnerable to heat’s physiological impacts,” she added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that “safe infrastructure for walking and cycling is also a pathway for achieving greater health equity. For the poorest urban sector, who often cannot afford private vehicles, walking and cycling can provide a form of transport while reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, and even death. Accordingly, improved active transport is not only healthy; it is also equitable and cost-effective.”
“Meeting the needs of people who walk and cycle continues to be a critical part of the mobility solution for helping cities de-couple population growth from increased emissions, and to improve air quality and road safety.”
Walking, cycling, mass transport
We need to make a significant behavioral change in addition to technological change when it comes to decarbonizing transport. Behavioral change and technological change are intimately interlinked. According to University of Oxford energy experts Jillian Anable and Christian Brand, in their piece “Is the Future Electric?” in “The Climate Book.” “Political leaders, town planners, manufacturers and consumers need to adopt, enable and promote new travel habits, as well as adopting new technologies.
“When such change in the transport sector is discussed, it is most typically in terms of ‘mode’ switching, whereby inefficient or polluting modes of travel are swapped for more efficient ones on like-for-like journeys: taking local public transport, walking or cycling, instead of making a short car journey.”
World Bicycle Day draws attention to the benefits of using the bicycle — a simple, affordable, clean, and sustainable means of moving from one point to another. The bicycle contributes to cleaner air and less congestion and makes education, health care and other social services more accessible to the most vulnerable populations. A sustainable transport system that promotes economic growth, reduces inequalities while bolstering the fight against climate change is critical to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
According to the United Nations, it was on March 15, 2022, that the General Assembly adopted the resolution on integration of mainstream bicycling into public transportation systems for sustainable development. It emphasized that the bicycle is an instrument of sustainable transportation and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate.
In their own steam, everyone can help limit climate change. From the way we travel, to the electricity we use, the food we eat, and the things we buy, we can make a difference. The world’s roadways are clogged with vehicles, most of them burning diesel or gasoline. Walking or riding a bike for relatively short distances instead of driving will reduce greenhouse gas emissions—and help your health and fitness.
Plant-based for the planet
Here’s food for thought: Transport and our diets are two major factors that alter our planet’s climate and environment.
As the global population surges toward a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, Western tastes for diets rich in animals and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Program’s (Unep) international panel of sustainable resource management. Professor Edgar Hertwich, the lead author of the report, once said: “Animal products cause more damage than (producing) construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as (burning) fossil fuels.”
Across the world, the vegan campaign illustrates not only a movement defying animal “genocide” (the endless cycle of violence and pain inflicted by humans upon billions of cruelly treated livestock) but espouses environmentalism as well. Global data have shown animal farms and the animal feed industry destroying forests and polluting bodies of water.
As our global population balloons, collective human activities are obviously affecting our environment as well as our global climate. World Bicycle Day is a reminder for us all that every action we do has a ripple effect far into society and our future. Every turn of the pedal takes us forward in the right direction.