Potentials and Barriers in the Advancement of Transportation Revolution in the Philippines

Abstract

Industrial Revolution has been part in the development of the Philippine transportation industry. The Philippine transportation system is continuously progressing but still worsening traffic congestion, increasing incidents of road crash and low LOS of public transportation are being experienced. In the 4th Global Industrial Revolution, continuous innovations are providing solutions for the epidemic transportation problems. These innovations are evident in the Philippine ITS development which are results of the collaboration between the Filipino Transportation Engineers (limited) and Filipino IT practitioners. In order to realize the impact of the innovative solutions to transportation problems in the country, it is recommended to establish a Comprehensive ITS Plan through an ITS Council involving government agencies, academic institutions and private sectors.

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1 INTRODUCTION
Industrial Revolution has been part of the continuing global
development. Based on the definition of Meriam Webster
Dictionary, Industrial Revolution is “a rapid change in an
economy marked by the general introduction of power-driven
machinery or by an important change in the prevailing types
and methods of use of such machines.” This revolution played
a vital role in the growth of global economy.
According to history, Industrial Revolution evolved from 1st,
2nd, 3rd up to 4th revolution, through time, each revolution
involves fundamental changes in the industrial organization.
Figure 1 shows the periods of the industrial revolutions.
The First Industrial Revolution (1765) covers the period from
the end of 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century.
This period focuses on the development of mechanization,
wherein, steam-powered trains were developed as a result of
the invention of steam energy which are generated through
burning of coal. The steam-powered trains helped to
accelerate the economic activities related to human and
material exchanges. In addition, in this revolution, metal
shaping technologies were developed which established the
first factories and cities in the world.
The Second Industrial Revolution (1870) highlights the new
technological advancements wherein new source of energy
such as electricity, gas and oil were initiated. This continued
to the invention and development of combustion engine
which are the ones we can see in the automobiles and
airplanes. Furthermore, in this period, methods of
communication were revolutionized with the invention of
telegraph and telephone. Steel industry started to grow which
is directly related to the increasing demand of steel.
The Third Industrial Revolution (1969) started the rise of
electronics, telecommunications and computers. In this era,
high-level of automation in production also commenced, yet,
there are still more on human labor and less of automation.
Moreover, in this revolution, advancement of in the
mechanisms of automobile cars were continuously developed.
Today, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is emerging. This is
basically building from the 3rd revolution. Moreover, this era
focuses on the digital revolution which will result into more
of automated devices in operation and less of human, but the
human will be working in a highly complex and sophisticated
technological environment and with the major work of
programming through communication. In this era,
autonomous vehicles, ultra-fast trains and green energy are
the emerging technological development in transportation
industry.
1.1 Transportation Revolution (Pre-World War II)
Transportation system in the Philippines has a direct link
along with the global industrial revolution. Back in the
Spanish Era, the Philippines through the Spain’s Department
of Public Works initiated the development of rail system in
the capital by establishing Compania de los Tranvias de
Filipinas. In 1888, the first steam-powered Tranvia (Industrial
Revolution 1.0) that connects Manila to Malabon was opened,
as shown in Fig.2.
POTENTIALS AND BARRIERS IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
REVOLUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
John Jowhell H. Villegas1, M.Eng.
¹ Engineer III, DPWH - Bureau of Quality and Safety – Traffic Engineering Division and
Part-time Professor, Mapua University
Abstract: Industrial Revolution has been part in the development of the Philippine transportation industry. The Philippine
transportation system is continuously progressing but still worsening traffic congestion, increasing incidents of road crash and
low LOS of public transportation are being experienced. In the 4th Global Industrial Revolution, continuous innovations are
providing solutions for the epidemic transportation problems. These innovations are evident in the Philippine ITS development
which are results of the collaboration between the Filipino Transportation Engineers (limited) and Filipino IT practitioners. In
order to realize the impact of the innovative solutions to transportation problems in the country, it is recommended to establish
a Comprehensive ITS Plan through an ITS Council involving government agencies, academic institutions and private sectors.
Keywords: Industrial Revolution 4.0, ITS, SWOT Analysis, transportation system
Fig. 1 The Four Industrial Revolutions (Source: sentryo.net 2 )

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After the Spanish-American War (1898), Americans took
over on the operation of the rail system which resulted to the
reformation of the railway company from Compania de los
Tranvias de Filipinas to Manila Electric Railroad and Light
Company (MERALCO). This historic event emerged the
expansion of the railway network in Manila as well as the
development of electrified tram lines to central Manila
(Industrial Revolution 2.0). As shown in Fig. 3, the formerly
called Tranvia expanded up to 100 kilometers of rail track
with a peak fleet size of 170 units. This network was known
to be the most extensive tram networks in Asia which served
35 million passenger trips in total during its peak year in 1925.
However, due to the Battle of Manila (World War II),
railway/tram network was bombed and destroyed.
1.2 Transportation Revolution (Post-World War II)
After the WWII, the Philippine transportation development
focused on highway transportation. Roads were built along
with the abrupt increase of fuel-powered automobiles such as
buses, jeepneys and passenger cars. For the past four (4)
decades, the Philippine government highly invested on
building roads and less on railway transportation which led
the Filipinos to be automobile dependent.
Fig. 4 shows the Automobile Dependency Cycle which can
best describe the worsening condition of transportation in the
Metropolitan Manila.
The vehicle (fuel-powered, Industrial Revolution 2.0)
ownership in the Philippines, especially in Metro Manila, is
significantly increasing, which led the government to plan
more on automobile oriented transportation improvement
such as Urban Expressways and grade-separation projects in
Manila and other urban centers in the Philippines, while
facilities for other modes are being underdeveloped, such as
railway, bicycle facilities and connected pedestrian footpaths
which encourage passenger trips to rely solely on automobile
trips. Considering that private vehicles has the freedom to
access free roads within Metro Manila, continuous
development has high potential to occur in any location in the
metropolitan especially those that are along or near the road
section. This condition results to the automobile oriented
land-use planning where development is being inclined to the
provisions for automobile facilities such as parking spaces. As
car-centric transportation has been developed, more trips will
be encouraged to own their own private vehicles which will
result to significant increase of vehicular traffic which will
add up to the congestion problem. This cycle will continue to
happen and traffic congestion will get worse through time.
According to the recent study of the Japan International
Cooperating Agency (JICA) in 2017, Philippine economy is
losing about 3 billion pesos per day due to the traffic
congestion in the Metropolitan Manila alone. Considering
Fig. 3 Electric Railway Lines in Manila, 1932
(Source: skyrisecities.com )
Fig. 2 Steam-Powered Tranvia (Source: skyrisecities.com)
Fig. 4 Automobile Dependency Cycle

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that urban development in the metropolitan area is expanding
to the adjoining provinces such as Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and
Bulacan, economic loses are being experienced as well in the
roads and streets of these provinces. These loses comprise of
loss of opportunities, delay of services as well as impact on
human health.
The congestion experienced in the urban area can be directly
related to the fact that the transportation in the Philippines is
dependent on automobiles, as discussed in Figure 4. Railway
as an alternative mode of transportation in the metropolitan
area is limited to four (4) lines only, such as: Philippine
National Railway (PNR), Light Rail Transit (LRT-1 and LRT-
2), and Manila Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3). These railway
lines are operating beyond its operational capacity
encouraging the commuters to own an automobile adding up
to the traffic demand circulating in the already congested road
network.
Moreover, this worsening traffic congestion in the
metropolitan area has a direct impact on the increasing
problem in air and noise pollution. Along with the worsening
traffic congestion, the increasing trend of road crash incidents
is also evident. Based on the data from the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA), the road crash related deaths in the
Philippines increased from 8.02 in 2006 to 10.99 deaths per
100,000 population in 2016.
These trends of worsening traffic congestion and related
transportation problems clearly do not contribute on the
achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG). As per SDG no. 3, it is aimed to halve the road
crash fatalities by 2020. Likewise, SDG no. 7 aims to double
the global rate of energy efficiency used in transportation. If
traffic congestion is worsening, energy used are not
efficiently consumed.
In order to address these concerns, transportation agencies in
the government have been planning infrastructures that are
aimed to decongest the surface streets of the urban centers in
the country. In particular, in Metropolitan Manila, elevated
urban expressways and railway construction are recently
planned and implemented through Public-Private Partnership
projects. Moreover, the Department of Transportation (DoTr)
spearheaded the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan 2017-
2022 which set targets and commitments with other agencies.
The action plan includes five (5) pillars such as:
- Pillar 1: Road Safety Management
- Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility
- Pillar 3: Safer Vehicles
- Pillar 4: Safer Road Users
- Pillar 5: Post-crash Response
Parallel to this initiative, most of the government agencies set
commitments through the Performance Governance System
(PGS) Scorecard. In particular, the Department of Public
Works and Highways (DPWH) commits to improve the
mobility and safety of the national highway by implementing
traffic engineering interventions like improving the
intersection design and applying countermeasures on the
identified road crash blackspot locations.
Considering the promise of the emerging Industrial
Revolution 4.0, it can be presumed that the advancement of
this revolution era could help the Philippine transportation in
resolving the transportation issues most especially in making
the transportation system efficient and safe for the movement
of people and goods.
However, it is not vivid enough if the Philippines is capable
and competent enough to catch up with advancement of this
Industrial Revolution era.
2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This descriptive study aims to assess the potentials and
barriers of the advancement of Industrial Revolution in the
Philippine transportation system.
Specifically, this study aims to carry out the following:
a. Research the on-going global advancement of
transportation industry in the Industrial Revolution 4.0;
b. Determine the on-going development of transportation in
the Philippines related to Industrial Revolution 4.0;
c. Perform SWOT analysis to assess the potentials and
barriers for the Philippine Transportation Revolution 4.0;
and,
d. Recommend comprehensive framework for the
advancement of the Philippine transportation.
3 METHODOLOGY
This descriptive study was done in phases as shown in Figure
5, namely: i) research on emerging technologies; ii) SWOT
analysis; and, iii) conclusions and recommendations.
Research were conducted regarding the emerging
technologies and practices in the recent transportation
industrial revolution in the global platform as well as in the
Philippines. These research works involve published journals
and research works in the academe and publishing
Fig. 5 Research flow of this descriptive study

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organizations. Moreover, information on the existing
condition of transportation in the Philippines were gathered,
as well as the information on the competency of Information
Technology experts in the country.
Then, SWOT analysis was conducted. Strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats were identified and correlated in
order to determine the possible strategies that could help in
advancing the transportation revolution in the Philippines.
Lastly, conclusions and recommendations through concrete
action plan were proposed based on the strategies determined
from the SWOT analysis.
4 GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION
4.0
For the past years, transportation infrastructure development
had been continuously progressing, yet, various traffic
problems still exist. These problems could be mainly
correlated with the increasing number of traffic, both vehicles
and pedestrian, which are being faced either by developed or
developing country. In general, in order to address these
concerns, countries all over the world is shifting from
infrastructure development to maximizing the capacity of the
existing transportation infrastructure. The concept of Smart
Growth could be used in order to achieve the optimum
performance of the available transportation infrastructures.
Smart Growth through Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)
could provide solutions to the problems of increasing traffic
demand with limited infrastructure capacity. ITS is an
integrated system that implements a broad range of
communication, control, vehicle sensing and electronics
technologies to solve and manage the traffic problems. It is
expected that in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, ITS will be
fully into use. With the aid of ITS, it is expected that there will
be rapid advances in the management and technology of
transport systems which will enhance increasing performance
in terms of transport efficiency, overall safety, reliability,
comfort, convenience and communication.
In the ITS development of the Fourth Transportation
Revolution, Smart Road have been one of the focus of the
developed countries. Smart road are roads that think, feel and
predict the needs of the people and vehicles that travels on
them. This development is expected to be analytically based,
economically sound, politically acceptable, socially credible,
globally linkable, environmentally sustainable and
technologically achievable. It is important to take note that
the Fourth Industrial Revolution does not signifies that the
existing road infrastructures in the previous Industrial
Revolutions will be wasted, but the existing road
infrastructure will be upgraded in a new dimension, wherein,
roads will communicate with the vehicles.
The following case studies and recent development, all over
the world are describing what the future transportation system
of the world could be:
(1) Case Study of Honking in India. HP lubricants and Leo
Brunett developed a system that involves road that would
honk to inform drivers on the upcoming vehicles. This
development was conceptualized due to the significant
increase of road crash incidents in the mountain roads.
The system used Smart life poles installed on both ends
of sharp curves of the road sections. These poles
communicate with each other, and exchange data about
the approaching vehicles’ speed. Then, the poles would
alert the drivers of the approaching vehicles by sounding
a horn. According to the Police of India, because of this
initiative, there is a drastic reduction of road crash
incidents in the area.
(2) Case Study of Cooperative ITS Corridor in Europe. One
of the ITS solutions that developed in Europe is the
development of Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication. This
mechanism would create a platform among the plying
smart vehicles to communicate and exchange data, thus,
traffic flow will be coordinated resulting to a safer travel
of the vehicles.
In addition, an ambitious Smart Road project was
implemented in 2015. The project shepherd cars from
Rotterdam through Munich, Frankfurt and on to Vienna
without any interruption, the system warns vehicles on
the upcoming roadwork. Part of the project is the
installation of cameras every 100 meters and Wi-Fi
antennas every 500 meters. This project also requires that
vehicles are Smart Vehicles that are capable in
communication with the other smart vehicles as well as
to the Smart Road. This project is expected to increase
the carrying capacity of the road, improve the traffic flow
increasing the mobility performance as well as reducing
the likelihood of collision.
(3) Smart Car/Autonomous Vehicles. Development of
Autonomous Vehicles is continuous in developed
countries like Japan, Germany, Australia and other
countries working on autonomous vehicles. This
technology will allow Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V),
Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-
Pedestrian (V2P) communication. Through this
advancement, it is expected that traffic flow and traffic
safety will be improved. In September 2018, the world’s
first autonomous taxi started to operate in Central Tokyo.
This targets to serve the athletes in the upcoming Tokyo
2020 Olympics as well as the aged citizens in the country.
The service is in-connection with a mobile application
where passengers need to book their trip through the
application.
Fig. 6 Autonomous Taxi in Tokyo
(source: Jakarta Post)

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A study on the Impact of Autonomous Vehicles – Human
Driven Vehicles (AV-HDV) Mixed Traffic on Flow
Dynamics of Single-Lane Motorway was conducted by
Kakimoto, et.al, in Nagoya University. It was found out
through Monte Carlo simulation that with the increased
percentage of AV, safety, efficiency and comfort can be
improved assuming that the time headway of AV is
similar with the HDV, however, if the time headway of
AV will be set to minimum, comfort and safety of
passengers will be affected. The study concluded that
setting of AV should be carefully selected considering the
direct relationship between reaction time and time
headway.
(4) Driverless Train in Hong Kong Airport. A 3.8 kilometer
train line which is known as the Hong Kong International
Airport Automated People Mover moves the air
passenger within the airport. This is one of the driverless
trains in Hong Kong, the other being the MTR’s
Disneyland Resort Line. The system uses “Crystal Mover”
trains manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
(5) Bullet Trains. Bullet trains as we know are already
operational in countries such as Japan and China. In
Japan, bullet trains, also known as Shinkansen, connects
the entire country with an average running speed of 240-
320kph. The system employs an Automatic Train Control
(ATC) which is part of the computerized Centralized
Traffic Control which manages all train operations.
Development of the train system in Japan is continuing.
By 2020, Magnetic Levitation Train is expected to run
from Tokyo to Nagoya with a designed running speed of
500 kph.
(6) Other Applications of Smart Development on Road. Few
among the applications of smart development to roads
are as follows:
- Smart lightening could be applied to smart roads by
fitting the roads with power-saving lights that
gradually brighten as vehicles approach, and then
switch off after vehicles pass;
- Photo-luminescent paint can also be applied on road
markings, which is designed to charge during the day
to illuminate up to 10 hours during nighttime;
- Monitoring systems in road tunnels are used to
monitor the flow of gaseous substances such as CO,
CO2, NO2, O2 and others;
- Monitoring systems through wireless sensors can
also be used to monitor the state of the road surfaces.
In addition to the ITS development discussed, the following
advancement in the transportation industry is also expected to
be seen in the future all over the world:
- Car Sharing
- Bike Sharing
- Ride Sharing
- Personal Mobility Vehicles
- Autonomous Trucks, etc.
Recent collaboration among developed countries such as
Japan, USA, Australia, South Korea, China and European
countries, in partnership with the Philippines and Vietnam,
can be seen through international symposiums and
collaborative studies.
In summary, the global advancement of ITS connect the
infrastructure, vehicles and road-users through digital
technology. As a result, ITS is expected to have a great
contribution in improving the mobility for people with the
consideration of improved access to transportation for elderly
and persons with special needs. Moreover, road crash
incidents are expected to decrease.
5. TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION 4.0 IN THE
PHILIPPINES
5.1 Advancement of Transportation Industry in the
Philippines
As discussed in Section 4 of this paper, ITS has great potential
in resolving transportation problems as what the Philippine
transportation system is facing such as traffic congestion,
increasing road crash incidents, poor driving behavior of
drivers and low level of service public transportation.
Recently, it is evident that gradually the transportation
industry in the country have been implementing projects that
involves technology which are products of Transportation
Revolution 4.0. In this section of the paper, recent projects
implemented and being developed by the government
agencies, academic institutions and private companies in the
Philippines are being discussed, as follows:
(1) Non-Contact Apprehension in Metro Manila. Traffic
violations can be considered as one of the major causes
of impeded traffic flow along road network, sometimes,
no proper apprehension is being carried out due to other
factors. In order to address this concern, the Metropolitan
Manila Development Authority (MMDA) implemented
the Non-Contact Apprehension Policy along major
thoroughfares in Metro Manila. This project is using the
real-time CCTV camera footages captured from cameras
strategically installed which are transmitted to the Traffic
Control Center, where, virtual enforcers are capturing the
plate number of the vehicle with driver in-violation. Then,
apprehension tickets will be transmitted to the home
address of the owner of the violating vehicle. From the
start of operation, in average, there are more than 3,000
violators recorded with the aid of the Non-Contact
Apprehension System;
(2) Traffic Control Center. MMDA has been using a control
center that manage all the signalized intersection
operations in Metro Manila. Through this system,
MMDA technical personnel could manipulate the setting
of each traffic signal depending on the demand of the
vehicles. In addition, this system is also used for
monitoring of flooding incidents during rainy season;

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(3) Intersection Traffic Signalization Hardware. Traffic
signal system could be categorized into pre-timed and
actuated system. Actuated traffic signals has sensors that
can detect vehicles on the approaches of an intersection.
In the Philippines, signalized intersections in the CBD
(Makati City, etc.) has detectors embedded on the
pavement. Likewise, intersections in Aklan, were
equipped with camera detectors in order sense the
necessity to optimize the operation of traffic signaling
system;
(4) iRAP. The International Road Assessment Programme
(iRAP) is a system that aims to pro-actively assess the
safety condition of the road network by gathering data
from a vehicle equipped with sensors and cameras. Then,
a system would assess the gathered data which will result
to Star Rating of the safety condition of roads. As per
assessment of iRAP, through collaboration between
DPWH and World Bank, along the Philippine National
Road, majority has a one star rating which implies that
safety condition is at its worst condition. In addition,
through the system, recommendations could be generated,
yet, the judgement of the traffic/highway engineer is
necessary to validate the recommended counter-
measures generated by the system;
(5) Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System. ETC had been
implemented on all expressway toll gates which is used
to eliminate the delay of manual payment on toll gates.
However, proportion of vehicles equipped with
technology in order to pass through the ETC gates is
limited;
(6) Beep Card. Beep Card is a smart card with stored value
that can be used for cashless payment for trips in LRT1,
LRT2, MRT3 and BGC buses. This is also designed to be
used in modernized jeepneys. Through this smart card,
transactions in public transportation will be seamless;
(7) High Speed Weigh-in-Motion. Overloading of trucks is
one of the perennial problems along national roads of the
Philippines. In order to address this, Republic Act No.
8794 were established and implemented. Permanent
weighing stations were strategically based along national
roads. However, human factors are making the
implementation of the law weak in terms of apprehension
of the overloaded trucks. Recently, a High-Speed WIM
system has been installed upstream of the Weighbridge
Stations in Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija. The system
will automatically collect data of the passing trucks such
as weight, plate number and truck type. If a plying truck
is overloaded, the system will communicate to the
permanent WB station giving information about the
overloaded trucks. Through the automated weighing
operations, human factor influencing the effectiveness of
the implementation of RA8794 will be significantly
reduced.
In addition to the above-mentioned existing advanced
technologies in the Philippine transportation industry, the
leading universities have been conducting research in the
advancement of transportation system. Among these research
efforts, are the following:
(1) UPARDS. A system capable in recording road crash data
on the site of an incident was developed through a
research work in Mapua University (Dr. Francis Aldrine
Uy). This research work could help the Philippine
National Police in collecting accurate and comprehensive
road crash data that could be utilized by end-users like
road designers and traffic safety engineers;
(2) Passenger-demand detection system. In the existing
system, passengers in the train stations are being
monitored through the CCTV footage and subjectively
use the information for the deployment of train cars in the
stations. A research that aims for the advancement of
passenger demand detection system tested in LRT1
Central Station, with the aid of Bluetooth technology,
was conducted by undergraduate students in Mapua
University in 2018. This technology could be used by the
management as the start in advancing the detection of
passenger demand and deployment of train cars.
(3) Auto-detection of Road Defects. An on-going research
work is being carried out in the University of the
Philippines – Diliman (Engr. Krezia Morales–Tactac)
about the development of an automated system that can
automatically detect road pavement defects through
machine learning algorithm using photos and videos.
In addition, research forums are being held in the Philippine
regarding Intelligent Transportation System which are joined
by Transportation Engineers and Computer
Programmers/Scientists.
In summary, the advancement of the transportation industry
in the Philippines is in progress. The technologies that are
implemented and being explored has great potential in
addressing problems in different areas of transportation
system such as highway and railway.
5.2 Competency of the Philippine Transportation Industry
The manpower required to carry out the advancement of ITS
in the Philippines are Transportation Engineers, Computer
Scientists, Information Technology practitioners and policy
makers.
Fig. 8 Distribution of specialization of Professional
Civil Engineers
Structural
Engineering
27%
Construction
Management
30%
Geotechnical
Engineering
4%
Wastewater
Management
2%
Hydrology
10%
Environmental
Engineering
4%
Materials
Engineering
9%
Others
4%
Transportation
Engineering
10%
Fig. 7 MMDA Control Center
(source: acfc.asia)

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In this study, the human resource capacity of computer
scientists and IT practitioners were not assessed. Although,
subjectively, it can be observed that IT industry in the
Philippines significantly increased recently. However,
majority of the IT industry in the country serves international
or foreign companies.
In terms of transportation engineers in the Philippines, a small
online survey was conducted from July 22 to July 26, 2019
with the aid of Google Form. There were only 314
respondents who answered the survey wherein 68.9% are
among the 217 students from Mapua University in Manila and
Holy Angel University in Pampanga. The 31.2% are among
the practicing Civil Engineers in the Philippines. Even though,
there are limited samples gathered, this study presumes that
the responses can represent the perception of the Civil
Engineering industry.
Based on the survey results, among the Civil Engineering
students 48% prefers specializing in Transportation
Engineering when they practice their profession. Among the
interested students, 74.3% wants to focus on Highway
Engineering while 17.1% on Railway Engineering.
On the other hand, as shown in Figure 8, both Structural
Engineering and Construction Management covers 19% of
the total students responded in the survey
This distribution of preference varies significantly as
compared with the distribution of Professional Civil Engineer
into different specialization. Figure 8 presents the distribution
as gathered from the survey, Construction Management and
Structural Engineering comprises of 27% and 30% of the total
Civil Engineer respondents, respectively. Only 10% of the
total respondents specializes in Transportation Engineering,
majority are focusing in Highway Transportation. 80% of the
respondents are practicing Civil Engineering in the
Philippines for about 9 years and below. According to the
respondents, they did not specialize in Transportation
Engineering due to the limited institutions that offers courses
for this field. Also, they think that other specialization is more
in demand in the Philippines.
Comparing the preference between the students and
professionals, it can be noted that most of the students
consider to specialize in Transportation Engineering. These
results manifest that the future of practitioners in
transportation could increase in the near future. However,
considering the ample size of samples gathered, the results of
this study cannot generalize the preference of civil
engineering students in the entire country.
Moreover, practitioners were asked to answer “Yes,”
“Somehow,” and “No” if they are satisfied in terms of the
following measures as:
a. Financially;
b. Social Responsibility;
c. Achievement.
Based on the survey results, in terms of financial satisfaction,
Filipino practitioners answered “Somehow.” On the other
hand, they believe that being a Transportation Engineer in the
Philippine are giving them Social Responsibility and
Achievement. This response might encourage Transportation
Engineers in the Philippines to work abroad if the salary is
more valuable than the other satisfaction measures.
Furthermore, majority of the respondents, including both
students and practitioners, believe that the population of the
Transportation Engineers in the Philippines are insufficient to
carry out the technical demand on advancing the
Transportation Industry in the country.
6 S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS
Strength-Weakness-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis
were carried out to identify the potentials and barriers of the
advancement of transportation revolution in the Philippines.
6.1 Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats in the
Philippine Transportation Industry
6.1.1 Strengths
Strengths were identified as follows:
- The population of Civil Engineers in the Philippines is
increasing;
- Research works in the Philippine universities have
potential results that can be used as reference to improve the
transportation system;
- The Philippine transportation agencies started to adapt the
emerging technologies in the 4th industrial revolution;
- The Philippines has a bunch of Information Technology
practitioners.
6.1.2 Weaknesses
- There is no Comprehensive ITS plan for the Philippines
that would connect different modes of transportation;
- There are limited Transportation Engineers in the
Fig. 8 Distribution of specialization preference of Civil
Engineering students
Structural
Engineering
19%
Construction
Management
19% Geotechnical
Engineering
5%
Wastewater Management
1%
Hydrology, 0%
Environmental Engineering, 3%
Materials Engineering, 3%
Others, 2%
Transportation
Engineering
48%

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Philippines, particularly in the government agencies;
- There are limited institutions that offers Transportation
Engineering courses;
- There is no clear linkage among government agencies,
such as DOTR, DPWH, MMDA, DILG-LGU and the like,
that have functions concerning planning, design, construction,
operation and maintenance of transportation system;
- The government has limited funds to implement beneficial
projects;
- The government has no defined legislative bills that could
support the and enhancement of competency and
advancement of the Transportation Industry.
6.1.3 Opportunities
- There are available technologies in the developed
countries that could be utilized through technology transfer;
- Philippines has good partnership with countries who are
leading in the advancement of transportation revolution 4.0;
- The government has set target and commitments aiming
to address the mobility and safety concerns in the
transportation system which can be integrated with ITS to
maximize its operational performance;
- The government expenditures in transportation
infrastructure is increasing;
- The interest of Civil Engineering students to specialize in
transportation is increasing;
- There are private institutions, both local and international,
that offers technical assistance through consultancy programs;
- There are private institutions doing business through
Public-Private Partnership programs
6.1.4 Threats
- Filipino Transportation Engineers has higher income
opportunities abroad
6.2 Strategies
The following strategies could be considered by the
government and stakeholders to adapting in the global
advancement of transportation industry:
6.2.1 Strength-Opportunity Strategies
- Partnership between academes, government agencies and
private institutions could help on strengthening the research
and development for the Philippine transportation;
- Strengthen international partnerships with developed
countries like Japan, who are leading in the advancement of
Transportation Revolution 4.0 in order to take an opportunity
for technology transfer;
- Provide budget allotment for research and development in
transportation;
- Encourage local consulting companies to explore ITS for
local use;
- Develop incentive mechanisms for civil engineering
students preferring to specialize in Transportation
Engineering.
6.2.2 Weakness-Opportunity Strategies
- Form an ITS Council involving government agencies
(DPWH, DoTr, MMDA, DILG and DICT), academic
institutions and private companies;
- Develop a Comprehensive ITS Framework to serve as
guideline in implementing effective programs and projects for
cooperating government agencies, academic institutions and
private companies;
- Introduce and strengthen transportation engineering
courses nationwide;
- Strengthen the interest of students to specialize in
Transportation Engineering by expanding Transportation
Engineering-oriented student organizations nationwide;
- Strengthen PPP programs to help on financing the
identified effective projects;
- Provide trainings and scholarships for the government
Civil Engineers who has interest in specializing in
Transportation Engineering.
6.2.3 Threat – Strength Strategies
- Increase the salary of Transportation Engineers to practice
and specialize in the Philippines which will encourage
aspiring students to specialize in the field of Transportation
Engineering;
- Strengthen the Transportation Engineering organizations
by having national conventions focusing on Transportation
Revolution 4.0;
6.2.4 Threat – Weakness Strategies
- Increase the rate of compensation for Transportation
Engineers/Specialists
7 CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, in this description study, it was known that
there is a huge potential for the advancement of
Transportation Industry in the country which was based on
the implemented ITS projects and completed/on-going
research works in the academe. In addition, there are a lot of
IT practitioners that could help on the development of ITS in
the Philippines. However, it was found out that there are less
Civil Engineers specializing in Transportation Engineering,
yet, there is an increase of proportion in students preferring to
specialize in transportation. It was also noted that existing
technologies in the developed countries could be candidate
for technology transfer in the Philippines. Considering the
state of the gradually advancing transportation engineering
practices and opportunities in the Philippines, it can be
concluded that Transportation Revolution 4.0 is possible to be
realized in the near future.

9
8 RECOMMENDATIONS
As mentioned in the Weakness-Opportunity Strategies, there
is a need to first form an ITS Council and develop a
Comprehensive ITS Framework that could clearly reflect the
projects and programs that are in need to help on making the
transportation more efficient and safe. These collaborative
projects must be assigned to the concerned government
agencies (DPWH, DoTr, DOST, MMDA, DILG and DICT),
academic institutions, private companies and other
stakeholders in order to realize the advancement of
transportation industry in the Philippines.
The proposed ITS Philippines (ITSPh) Framework is shown
in Figure 9. The framework aims for a safer and more efficient
operation of the Philippine Transportation System. It focuses
on Land Transportation such as Highway and Railway
Transportation. The concept of the proposed framework is
centered on having an ITSPh database which is connected to
the ITS Control Hub. Traffic data shall be collected from the
transportation network thru CCTV cameras, sensors, mobile
data and other available technology strategically located
along the road and train network. These data shall describe
and define the traffic demand on road sections and passenger
demand on train station platforms or Loading/Unloading
Stops of PUVs as well as data on traffic violations of road
users. Through these data, the ITSPh will decide on the
deployment of rolling stocks on train lines and PUVs based
on the real-time passenger demand. These data also provide
information for the commuters through mobile application
regarding the deployment schedule of PUVs and trains, which
will in return transform our public transportation reliable and
more efficient. Data on traffic violation shall be processed by
the ITSPh and then inform the drivers regarding the violation
through SMS or email. Parking information and navigation
for private vehicles shall be made available through existing
or new developed navigation applications. Moreover, there
shall be an Automatic Emergency System on Railway System
which could automatically stop the operation of the trains
during earthquake and fire in order to lessen the risk of the
passengers and the damage on the system.
All these proposed developments shall be done in
collaboration between government agencies, academic
institutions and private companies. Development of the
ITSPh shall be headed by the Department of Transportation
(DOTr) with direct coordination with Department of Science
and Technology (DOST) and Department of Information and
Communications Technology (DICT). Research for the
development of the mobile applications and detector/sensor
systems shall be done by academic institutions with regular
funding support by the government. The principles and
concepts of Traffic Engineering needed in the system shall be
provided by DOTr and Department of Public Works and
Highways (DOTr) and other agencies.
This ambitious plan for the Philippine transportation industry
cannot be realized soon, considering that the Philippine
transportation system is still on the stage of expanding the
network, it is important to take into consideration that in all
the planned infrastructure, the concept of ITS must be
incorporated. Furthermore, it is necessary that political body
of the government shall form a legislation that would
strengthen and support the undertakings and funding of the
Transportation Revolution 4.0 in the Philippines.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author, John Jowhell H. Villegas, is a graduate of Master
of Engineering in Nagoya University under JICE-JDS (JICA)
scholarship program. The program aimed to strengthen the
technical capacity of the Philippine government. He
completed his bachelor’s degree at University of Rizal
System – Morong. He is currently working as Engineer III at
the Department of Public Works and Highways – Bureau of
Quality and Safety – Traffic Engineering Division. He also
serves as Part-time Professor in Mapua University teaching
transportation engineering subjects and providing assistance
for students doing research in transportation.
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Meriam Webster Dictionary
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tranvias-once-envy-asia
Automobile Dependency Cycle, Wikipedia
Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA 2017), Study
on the Greater Capital Region in the Philippines
Department of Transportation-Philippines (2017), Philippine
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Industrial Revolution Emphasis on Smart Road
Leo Burnett, et.al (2017). Smart roads that honk themselves
in India
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driverless-taxi-hits-the-road-in-tokyo/
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https://www/checkerboardhill.com/2011/02/honh-hong-
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Wikipedia, Shinkansen
Fig. 9 Proposed Framework of ITSPh
ITSPh
Database and
Control Hub
aiming for a
SAFER and
MORE
EFFICIENT
Philippine
Transportation
System
Highway
Transportation Railway
Transportation
Private
Vehicles
Public
Transportation
(Jeepneys/Bus)
Freight
Distribution
(Trucks)
Data Collection
(CCTV, Sensors, mobile
data etc.)
Trip Information thru
Mobile Application
(PUV Schedule;
Navigation; Parking)
No Contact Apprehension
(Automatic Issuance of
tickets thru email or SMS
Deployment of PUVs based on
real-time demand
PNR
LRT1
LRT2
MRT3
Subway
NSCR
MRT7
Data Collection:
Passenger Demand
(CCTV, Sensors, mobile
data, Bluetooth, WiFi)
Trip Information thru
Mobile Application
(Train Schedule /
Demand)
Deployment of Rolling
Stocks based on
Demand
All Public Transportation shall employ AUTOMATIC Fare Collection System