MANILA, Philippines – The over 200 people who participated in a public consultation facilitated by Rappler and the Quezon City government think the government should ensure traffic and accessibility concerns are addressed in the plan to close off iconic Tomas Morato Avenue on Sundays.
The participants, mostly residents living around Tomas Morato, also mostly agreed with declaring only a portion of the avenue car-free, instead of the whole stretch. A majority prefer the city government implement the car-free rule at a shorter period of time, in the morning and then again in the afternoon, rather than the entire day as initially suggested by officials.
These insights, gathered by Rappler through its app and artificial intelligence (AI) platform, helped Quezon City Councilor Irene Belmonte in finalizing her proposed ordinance on Tomas Morato car-free Sundays.
The ordinance was passed on second reading during a session of the Quezon City Council on Monday, September 16, a few days before World Car-Free Day on September 22.
After some revisions in format, it will have to be signed by Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, and then by Mayor Joy Belmonte to become an ordinance.
The city government is already planning a dry run or pilot of the car-free initiative, to take place on September 22, Councilor Belmonte told Rappler.
It will be from 6 am to 10 am, and only the stretch from the Scout Rallos intersection to the Boy Scout Circle will be car-free.
Full report shown to QC council committees
A total of 245 users were logged on to the artificial intelligence platform used by Rappler to gather public sentiment, collate, and analyze them. Of these, around 233 participated through the assisted virtual sessions conducted along Tomas Morato Avenue.
The artificial intelligence platform, called aiDialogue, asked all participants five questions formulated by Rappler and Councilor Belmonte’s office, based on previous public consultations on the proposal.
The AI chatbot on the platform, called Rai, would then ask a follow-up question to all participants, based on their answers to the five questions.
Make a comprehensive traffic management plan, alternative routes for vehicles, and road signage or blockage.
resident
At the end of the session, Rai generated summaries of all the responses. A total of four sessions were conducted. Rappler analyzed all the responses and summaries from all these sessions to come up with a final report that was presented to Councilor Belmonte.
During a Quezon City Council committee on laws and appropriations meeting on September 12, Belmonte presented the proposed ordinance to the committees and discussed revisions that were partly due to the findings from the aiDialogue public consultation sessions.
“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 aiDialogue sessions aimed to understand what steps the government should take to make any car-less initiative acceptable to stakeholders like residents, visitors, business owners, and workers in Tomas Morato.
While participants were not directly asked if they support or do no support the proposal, 29 participants declared this during the sessions. The initiative was intended, not to determine support or opposition, but to understand people’s concerns, gather suggestions, and allow people to think through various options.
One of the main findings was that the biggest concern of people living around Tomas Morato Avenue was traffic management and parking. Meanwhile, the biggest reasons for support for the proposal was potential business opportunities it would generate for the area.
“Make a comprehensive traffic management plan, alternative routes for vehicles, and road signage or blockage,” said one participant.
“The QC government needs to be clear and strict on the question of access. If the entire stretch will be cleared, where would the entry points be for residents and visitors to get to their desired location?” asked another.
“Pinaka mahalaga yung ekonomiya. Kasi pag car-free, baka makatulong sa mga residenteng gusto mag negosyo. Pag car-free, may mga opportunity sila na magnegosyo,” said a resident.
(The economy is the most important. If the street is car-free, it might help residents who want to do business. If it’s car free, there are opportunities to start a business.)
Participants were anonymized during the sessions to protect their identity and ensure they feel no pressure to answer in any certain way. But before joining the sessions, they were asked to declare information important to the public consultation exercise — like their connection to Tomas Morato Avenue, their barangay.
To ensure data protection and privacy, Rappler and Councilor Belmonte’s office entered into a data privacy agreement for this public consultation exercise.
Traffic management and parking was also brought up by Quezon City Councilor Joseph Juico during a council committee meeting where the ordinance was discussed.
“Have you done an impact study on where are the areas they will be able to park, and from there they can walk or they will take a vehicle if they are PWDs (persons with disabilities). What are the drop-off and pick-up points so we can better comprehend the plan?” he asked.
Other ways the government could make the proposal more acceptable for residents was to improve parking spaces and allow access points for delivery services like Grab or Food Panda. Older residents, or those 45 years old and above, expressed strong support for free shuttle service throughout Tomas Morato Avenue for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and other groups with mobility issues. Another major issue for the elderly respondents was the uneven sidewalks that made it difficult to walk along Tomas Morato Avenue and the pollution and garbage that make the experience less than ideal.
Meanwhile, business owners and workers were concerned about the proposal’s impact on their revenue or income.
“May lugar lang sana na gawing car-free kasi maapektuhan kaming mga vendor,” said one participant.
(I’m hoping that only one part of the street is car-free because us vendors will be affected.)
“‘Pag nagsagawa po ng car-free, mawawalan ng pinagkakakitaan ang mga parking attendant,” said another.
(If the car-free ordinance is implemented, parking attendants will lose income.)
Broken time period preferred
Slightly more participants preferred a broken time or periodic implementation of the car-free rule: car-free from 6 am to 10 am, then again at 4 pm to 6 pm.
This means that in the middle of the day, or around lunch time, cars will be allowed in Tomas Morato Avenue.
This was one of the options given to participants to choose from, based on planning by Councilor Belmonte. The other option was, car-free for the whole day, from 6 am to 6 pm.
Those leading the charge here were business owners — 50% of them chose this option. As for residents, 43% picked this option too. Meanwhile, 28% of employees agreed with this. More of them, 33%, chose a 6 am to 6 pm or whole day car-free period.
Meanwhile, a good number suggested other modalities, like car-free on Fridays or Saturdays, instead of Sunday. Or only in the morning, only in the afternoon.
This finding, along with reports from other officials and councilors, led Councilor Belmonte to modify her proposed ordinance to reflect this preference for a broken time of implementation.
During the September 12 committee hearing, she had said the ordinance would likely impose the car-free period from 6 am to 12 noon, in its first phase. A technical working group composed of various city government units, including the traffic planning and management office, would monitor the implementation and suggest changes if necessary.
In phase two, depending on phase one, the car-free period could be expanded, said Belmonte.
“It would be wiser to proceed with option B. The broken hours will allow the city a test phase that reduces disruption to the status quo while also allowing it to learn before full implementation,” said one business owner.
Based on a vehicle volume count by the city’s transportation planning office, weekends are the days with the least number of vehicles traversing Tomas Morato, a difference of around 1,000 to 2,000 vehicles compared to the weekday counts.
Paolo Madura, the office’s representative during the hearing, said the southern side of the road has the most traffic since this is also traversed by jeepneys which travel from Quezon City to Manila.
He said the office “fully supports” the proposed ordinance and is currently conducting a foot traffic survey that should have been completed last Sunday, September 15.
Partial closure supported
Participants were also asked to weigh in on the geographic extent of the car-free zone. Should the entire road be car-free on Sundays, or just one part? What should be the considerations in choosing which part will be car-free, and which part will still allow cars?
A majority of participants think only a portion of Tomas Morato Avenue should be car-free on Sundays.
This majority stance was observed among employees (79%) and residents (67%). Business owners were divided: 50% agreed with just one portion, the other half did not specify which of the choices they preferred.
Residents in support of partial closure said it would mean less of an impact on motorists and less hassle in navigating the area. They suggested the car-free area be in less commercialized spaces to mitigate any negative impact on businesses.
But those who wanted a complete closure on Sundays said this would be less confusing, would lead to better air quality and other environmental indicators, and lessen the chances of pedestrian-motorist accidents.
AI used to surface insights, suggestions
The Rappler-QC public consultation initiative is the first time generative AI was used for a public consultation exercise between journalists and local government.
Councilor Belmonte, in meetings with Rappler, said she appreciated the initative because it allowed her to expand the reach of her public consultation drive.
Over 200 people got to participate in the Rappler-facilitated sessions, as compared to the traditional public consultation held in March attended by 65 people.
According to documents from that March meeting, the biggest to join that consultation were the 28 department heads and their representatives, basically local government staff. The next biggest group were the commercial establishments — 18 representatives were present. Only six residents or property owners made it to that meeting.
In contrast, the Rappler-QC aiDialogue sessions were attended by mostly residents. Of the persons who participated, 61% were residents. Meanwhile, 18% declared themselves as “visitors” of Tomas Morato Avenue. Only 3% said they owned business in the area.
“What Rappler did was, each participant had a response, not just ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ They were able to declare if they agree, and why they agreed. We got a lot of input from the hybrid consultation conducted by Rappler.com.
quezon city councilor irene belmonte
A majority, or 74%, of respondents were Quezon City residents, which means the exercise was able to reach constituents to which the Quezon City government is directly accountable.
The aiDialogue sessions were also able to involve a wide variety of age groups. Data show that ages of participants were diverse, with a near equal percentage teenagers, GenZ, millennials, GenX, boomers, and senior citizens.
Most of the participants, 118, answered more than five questions during the sessions, which could be interpreted as a strong interest in the Tomas Morato car-free initiative.
What’s more, while traditional public consultations do not always mean every single attendee is voicing their opinion, the aiDialogue format means every single participant got to weigh in. This is because, to view the answers of other participants (although anonymized), an attendee had to answer the questions too. To articulate their opinions, participants had to truly understand the issue.
“The traditional way of public consultation that we do is just yes or no, are you in agreement with the ordinance or not. The respondents don’t each have an input when they attend our public hearings,” said Belmonte during the September 12 council committee meeting.
“What Rappler did was, each participant had a response, not just ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ They were able to declare if they agree, and why they agreed. We got a lot of input from the hybrid consultation conducted by Rappler.com,” she told her fellow councilors.
Several participants also declared to Rappler staff and volunteers that this was the first time they even heard of the proposal to close off Tomas Morato from cars. This means the sessions doubled as a public awareness-raising exercise that helped keep residents informed. – Rappler.com
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