MANILA, Philippines – Iconic Tomas Morato Avenue, one of the busiest streets in Quezon City, will be reserved for pedestrians for the first time on the morning of December 8, as the local government pilots its “People-Friendly” street ordinance.
The proposed ordinance, authored by QC 4th District Councilor Irene Belmonte, took into account public sentiment gathered with the help of an AI-powered public consultation in partnership with Rappler. The draft ordinance underwent a series of adjustments in its geographic scope and duration, based on feedback from Quezon City residents, business owners, and visitors who participated in the consultation.
Belmonte, whose district covers the Tomas Morato Avenue area, says the ordinance is historic because it will be the first time a street as busy as Tomas Morato was closed from cars in Quezon City, the biggest city in Metro Manila.
Tomas Morato Avenue is the city’s oldest restaurant row, known for its vibrant atmosphere, famous eateries, and hip bars.
What to expect
Here are the basic details of the pilot event:
- Time Period: The vehicle-free period is only from 5 am to 10 am, on December 8.
- Area covered: Only a portion of Tomas Morato Avenue will be vehicle-free at this time – from the corner of Scout Rallos Street to the corner of Don A. Roces Avenue.
- Parking and new routes: Parking areas have been identified and rerouting schemes formulated by the Traffic and Transportation Management Department. Read more about this in this Quezon City government post.
- Program: The activities will begin with Zumba at 5:30 am, opening ceremony at 6:20 am, and a bike ride that starts at 7 am.
- Exemptions: Certain vehicles will still be allowed to enter the vehicle-free zone, such as:
- Fire trucks
- Ambulances
- Police mobiles
- Barangay patrol, emergency response, and rescue vehicles
- Vehicles of Meralco, Manila Water Company, telecommunication companies, provided that the facilities in need of emergency repair or maintenance are within the car-free zone
- Delivery trucks of business establishments within the vehicle-free zone, provided that one delivery truck per establishment is allowed to enter and that the truck is not allowed to park along the vehicle-free zone
- Other similar vehicles
In phases
In discussions about how the ordinance will be implemented, Quezon Citu officials are considering that the regular car-free Sundays will only begin a year after the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) are approved. This is to give time for more assessments and evaluations to ensure smoother implementation, according to Belmonte.
In this first phase, the Scout Rallos to Roces portion of Tomas Morato Avenue will be car-free every first Sunday of the month, from 6 am to 10 am.
After one year of this first phase, the ordinance will move on to its second phase, when the vehicle-free Sundays will be expanded to every other Sunday of the month.
As phase one and two are being implemented, a technical working group created by the ordinance will be overseeing the closure and management of the vehicle-free zone. They are also tasked with undertaking a “comprehensive review” of the effect of the closure on businesses, traffic flow, the environment, and the community surrounding Tomas Morato Avenue.
They are also ordered to prepare an Economic Impact Assessment, a Traffic Impact Study, and an Environmental Impact Assessment to check on the ordinance’s impact on air quality and carbon footprint reduction.
The TWG will have to work closely with businesses, residents, and organizations to address concerns and issues.
Alternative routes and signages
Traffic and parking was a major concern voiced by Quezon City residents and local offices when this ordinance was being crafted.
The IRR states that the city’s transportation management division is supposed to determine alternate routes for vehicles that typically pass through the affected portion of Tomas Morato Avenue on Sundays. The agency is also supposed to provide “quality transport catchments, access routes” and stops to and from the busy thoroughfare.
To ensure the public is aware of the ordinance, signages and advisory notices are supposed to be installed in “clearly visible strategic points” in the area. The City Engineering Department was put in charge of this, according to the IRR.
The role of public consultation
The final version of the ordinance bears major differences from its initial version, a mark of the consultations that took place.
Councilor Belmonte used Facebook and Google Forms to gather initial feedback from the area’s residents and business owners. She also held multiple in-person meetings with them.
One of the consultation activities Belmonte undertook was a public consultation using generative artificial intelligence and the Rappler Communities app. This AI-powered public consultation made use of Rappler’s platforms and civic engagement arm, MovePH.
Over 200 people, mostly Quezon City residents, were able to join the Rappler-QC AI consultations. The major findings of the consultation would eventually contribute to the final version of the ordinance.
The preference of a majority of respondents for a 6 am to 10 am car-free period, for a phased implementation, and for the car-free area to take up only a portion of Tomas Morato Avenue, is now reflected in the ordinance. Initially, the ordinance stipulated a whole-day car-free period (6 am to 6 pm), and involved the entire street.
Councilor Belmonte explained how the Rappler AI-powered consultation contributed to the crafting of the policy.
“With the aiDialogue, they were able to elaborate on their responses, and it helped me craft the ordinance better. In fact, they had insights which I did not think of, and through the aiDialogue, they relayed it and it became part of the ordinance,” she told Rappler.
The Rappler findings were presented to the Quezon City Council committees on laws and appropriations last September 12. Four days later, the ordinance was passed on second reading during a session of the QC Council. – Rappler.com
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