Princess
How people experience the Philippine urban transportation system in 2030
Princess works as a sidewalk maintenance crew leader in the metropolis but she lives just outside the National Capital Region. She moved there to care for her aging parents. They used to live in an apartment in one of the transit-oriented developments just above a train and bus station but after retiring from government service, her parents preferred a more rural setting.
Princess doesn’t mind. It was convenient to live above the train and bus station, but the home they moved to is close to one of the bike highways that connect the metropolis to the nearby provinces. There is also a rapid rail line that’s just 10 minutes away by e-jeep.
Most days, though, Princess prefers to take her e-bike to work. It just takes her an hour each way. The bike highways are well maintained and well used. As a civil engineer, Princess likes the bike highway’s drainage systems. People on bikes or other personal mobility devices don’t have to deal with puddles or floods, even in heavy rains. The bike highway also has good lighting at night and there are safety officers who regularly traverse the routes. They keep an eye on things but are also there to help people with bike troubles.
Princess hasn’t needed their help but she’s always glad to see them. They wave as she gets on the bike highway. She’s had a flat tire or two, but the bike highway has self-repair stations every few kilometers so she easily pumped up a tire and tightened a bolt or two.
It’s a smooth ride in, despite the thousands of other riders on the highway. This morning she keeps her eye out for one of her neighbors, a teenager who just got accepted at one of the science high schools in the city. The young woman opted to live at home and just bike in. Princess knows her parents and so she likes to keep her company on the ride into the city. Princess also usually spots a few of the manangs and lolas who are her sukis at the town market. The lolas ride pedal powered three-wheel bikes (tricycles) or cargo bikes and use the bike highway to buy their produce from the regional markets. One of her neighbors grows flowers and uses the bike highway to get to her stall in the city everyday.
Just before she gets to the field office, Princess gets a message on her work crew app showing which sidewalks need repair today. Sometimes Princess opts to bike straight to the site using the city’s connected bike infrastructure. But today is the team’s retrospective meeting day. They meet for one hour every week to discuss what went well last week, what didn’t go so well that they need to change, and what they can do this week to provide even better service to people of the city. Every six months, Princess and the rest of the crew supervisors must report on their work to the local community consultative committee on how they continue to improve their service and the system.
-oOo-
