Using a published typology of transport problems of Third World cities and the results of recent NEDA transport studies, this study determined the manifestations in Mega Manila of typical Third World city transport challenges. The study likewise identified six concerned government agencies that pursue transport policies and programs, activities, and projects (PAPs), or review and evaluate transport and land use plans and proposals from other agencies. The agencies are DOTC, DPWH, HLURB, MMDA, NEDA, and the EDSA Traffic Technical Working Group, which were selected as Key Informant Interview (KII) - survey respondents, and were queried on the utilization of the Urban Transport-Land Use (UT-LU) Planning Process or any other transport planning process to achieve the necessary comprehensiveness and analytic rigor of transportation planning; their consideration, if any, of the transport problems in Mega Manila in their planning practices; and the responsiveness of respective agency policies and PAPs in addressing Mega Manila’s transport problems.
The study’s hypothesis was that the concerned agencies do not conduct deliberate planning as comprehensively and as robustly needed. As a result, and with the prevalent conditions of traffic congestion and transportation crisis in Mega Manila, the study assumed that transport policies and PAPs of agencies are inadequate. Hence, the probability that the individual planning processes of each agency, and the coordination of plans between and among the agencies, are deficient and need to be strengthened and improved.
The study’s findings affirm all of these. None of the agencies reported using the UT-LU Planning Process; neither were these in submissions to them. Positively, certain analytical tools and methods were said to be utilized by some agencies. Of the nine typical Third World city urban transport problems, only two were reported as being considered in the planning practices of all agencies.