Manila’s streets
are heavily congested, traffic is already a nightmare. You can say that there are just too many cars
in Manila. Then again one cannot blame
people for buying or wanting to buy cars, as cars are an object of desire—a thing
to be owned for its own sake, as well as being a convenient, cost-effective and
safe way of going around the country.
Indeed, a car is
easily attainable for most of the middle class—thirty thousand pesos can
already get you an old “Boxtype” Lancer or “Owner” Jeep.
30
grand and you’re already spoiled for choice
Yet most of the time, these extra
cars are just extra mass—dead weight, both on the Megalopolis’ infrastructure
and its society.
Watch
your car boyzzz
The real
problem, however, contrary to much popular belief, is not cars being driven,
but cars not being driven. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve used quite a bit
of public transport for long journeys, and I’ve worked out that in the past 336
hours the Fiat Panda has been in use for only eight of them, or a pathetic 2.4
per cent of the time. For 97.6 per cent of the time it’s been sitting outside
by the road gathering pigeon poo. At any given time a handful of cars is doing
something useful but most of the rest are simply in the way.
I don’t
doubt that the issue could be partly resolved if we all bought a Smart ForTwo
or a G-Wiz, but then we would simply be substituting one social problem with
another, most probably widespread depression and low self-esteem.
I also
have a sneaking suspicion that most Smarts are bought by rich people as a city
runabout rather than as a replacement for an existing car, which means there
are now one and a half cars on the street where there used to be only one.
I
therefore conclude that what we really need, in the absence of any emerging
folding car technology, is more garages.
Indeed such a public service is the
provision of parking lots that many frequent goers to the Makati City Hall (mostly
lawyers who have business in the courts) defend the overpriced parking
lot
that the Dark Lord built there as having provided an essential service to the all
who have business with city hall.
Legislation
Valenzuela
Representative Sherwin Gatchalian recently filed two consecutively numbered
House Bill No. 5099 (“Parking Fees Regulation Act”) House Bill No. 5098 (“Proof
of Parking Space Act”) about parking.
Valenzuela
City Rep. Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian
[A] standard
parking fee of only P40 per vehicle for up to eight hours and additional P10
for every succeeding hour. A one-time fee of P100 per vehicle will be imposed
for overnight parking.
In
particular, those who have purchased at least P1,000 worth of goods or services
will have their parking fee waived, provided that they have used the parking
space for three hours or less.
As for
safety, business establishments will be required to provide security in parking
spaces. If they opt to collect parking fees, shops will be liable for loss of
property or damage to customers' vehicles.
Any person
or establishment violating the Act will be made to pay a fine of at least
P150,000 per overcharged customer or a prison term of one to three years.
“Consumers,
especially those in Metro Manila and urban areas, have no choice but to pay the
excessive parking fees imposed by malls and other establishments even if these
businesses already profit from the sale of their products and services,”
Gatchalian said. “The key is to strike an equitable middle ground that will
afford consumers the necessary protections without excessively hampering the
ability of legitimate parking enterprises from conducting fair and profitable
business.”
Gatchalian
proposed that buyers of brand-new cars, whether individuals or firms, be
mandated to execute an affidavit indicating the availability of an existing
parking space for the vehicle to be bought. The said affidavit shall be certified
by a notary public.
Gatchalian
pointed out that motor vehicle owners should be made responsible to provide a
permanent parking space for their own private vehicles, whether this is made an
integral part of their house or building structure, or is a leased facility.
The Act
also orders the Land Transportation Office to make such affidavit a
prerequisite in the registration of vehicles. The LTO, the Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority and other concerned local government units are mandated
to make ocular inspections in implementing the Act.
Owners
found making untrue claims shall have their vehicle registration revoked and
will be banned from registering a motor vehicle under their name for three
years. Violators will also be fined P50,000.
LTO
personnel who allow the registration of vehicles despite knowing the falsity of
the affidavit, or without the required document, shall be suspended for three
months without pay.
“Although
it is good news for the automotive industry, it is bad news for Metro Manila
motorists and commuters who must brace themselves for slower traffic as more cars
join the vehicle population,” Gatchalian explained. “And traffic congestion in
the capital is worsened by the idle vehicles parked on the sides of streets,
hampering the flow of automobile and foot traffic.”
I approve of both
these measures for reasons that a new industry of parking establishments will
be created and congestion will be alleviated.
I discuss these below.
One thing I did
notice however was that this was not the first time anyone from the House of
Representatives tried to pass a law to regulate parking. In the 15th Congress there were a
number of measures filed but as far as I know, none of these ever made
law.
Source: House of Representatives Website
This
was of course, the 15th Congress—the most pork barrel charged
congress our country has ever had—this was the congress that impeached the
Chief Justice and tried to impeach the Ombudsman. This is the Congress that swims in DAP. It was a Congress so distracted with
money-making activities that it forgot that its duty was to legislate. Implementation of the law is yet another
concern…haaay Pilipinas.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
The
Start of a New Industry
With the passage of
these laws, parking spaces will become coveted real estate. No longer would families vacate their garages
to make extra space for their homes and instead park their cars on the
street. There will be people willing to
buy and lease them for convenience. Indeed,
this will herald the growth of a new industry to operate parking
establishments.
In Makati CBD,
Ortigas, Taguig and Alabang, interspersed among the skyscrapers are parking
lots—basically empty asphalt lots with painted rows indicating parking
slots. But I have yet to see a purpose
built parking building in a business district open for the public which caters
specifically to nearby establishments and buildings. In Eastwood, I know of some people who live
in a nearby condominium but they park their car at a mall.
Needless to say,
the only ones now that have an incentive to build large purpose built parking
buildings are malls, hotels and condominiums.
With these laws, malls may no longer have an incentive to build more
parking space as they won’t profit from its operation anymore. Instead, for profit parking establishments
will provide the much needed service. In
the cities, we may see the rise of multi-storey parking lots. Subdivisions may soon start to provide them
in order to earn extra profit for homeowners who want to own more than one
car. Condominiums may soon start
building more expansive parking lots, possibly with a 2:1 parking lot to condo
unit ratio for purposes of lease.
We may also see the
rise of the “reserved” parking slot within parking buildings. As people buy or lease more and more parking
slots, there is a danger that slots for drivers casually driving into a place
for some quick business or visit will become so rare because almost all of the
space is taken up by the reserved slots (which may or may not be
occupied). Thus there is a danger that
not all of the space in a parking lot or building will be utilized—a eerie
phenomenon where there are lots of empty spaces in a vast parking lot which no
one from the outside who needs a space can park in. Such a Phenomenon can be avoided by
legislating that a parking establishment keep at least half or 50% of its
parking slots open for visitors. However
the free market may obviate the need for legislation because we know that the
most profitable slot is a slot where people pay 10 pesos every hour, instead of
a slot rented out for P3,000.00 per month.
Thus a parking establishment will have to keep slots open.
We may also see the
rise of a “full-service” parking establishment.
Imagine a building, five storeys tall with a five level basement. Such a building has the capacity to
accommodate 1,000 cars—one hundred cars for each level. Some space can be rented out to car mechanics
and service stations. They can sell fuel
(including electricity for electric cars), tires, batteries and all manner of
car parts, fluids and services on site!
Think of the profits—a single slot can make P240.00 pesos a day if it is
rented out at ten pesos an hour.
Parking buildings
can be built cheaply as well, especially those which incorporate a modular
design and steel construction. Labor is
cheap since one only needs to hire security guards and parking attendants.
If these bills become laws, we may
soon find highly efficient parking establishments. To get some idea of what I am talking about,
check this article on Web
Urbanist.
Parking
as a Public Service
The provision of
parking establishments is a public service.
They clear up space on the streets so that traffic can flow smoothly,
they can improve the desirability of the area and profitability of surrounding
businesses. Indeed, businesses may soon
find that a place near a parking establishment will be more frequented than one
which is not. This is because I anticipate
that a customer will go a shop or office where he can be sure that he can
readily park his car and in our consumption-based economy, this is essential.
Safety will be
improved. Carnappers will be discouraged
to break into cars at a parking establishment for the simple reason that they
expect a parking establishment to be more heavily watched. Indeed, customers will expect and demand greater
safety from parking lots since they will assume that the success of such a
business will depend upon the goodwill of its patrons—an unsafe establishment
or one that has a poor reputation will not enjoy such goodwill.
Conclusion
I think that a part
of the Philippine congestion problem is the lack of parking lots. Let’s face it, cars are cheap enough for the
middle class. This means that a lot of
cars are put on the road, and stay “on the road” even when not in use. In the cities, parking space is highly sought
after, and is a factor to consider when doing something as simple as eating out
at a restaurant or buying groceries. The
search for parking space unnecessarily consumes fuel and is a strain on the
earth’s resources. Lastly a car parked
out on the street, is a target for vandals and carnappers.
I hope that the
bill gets passed and entrepreneurs see that as a viable business opportunity
and a chance to offer a public service.
President Duterte and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (source: Rappler)
