Jheny Dabu
Despite heavy rains and weather uncertainties, 350 Pilipinas together with local governments from across the Philippines gathered in Quezon City for activities that bring mutual learning of experiences, challenges and prospects for mobility transformation that prioritizes people.
A Rainy Evening Bus Tour With Quezon City and Cebu Provincial Governments
On August 12, 2026, 350 Pilipinas, Quezon City Government and Cebu Provincial Planning and Development Office participated in a “bus tour” organized by AltMobility PH. The Quezon City’s Green Transport Division – Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS-GTD) facilitated the bus tour starting at QC Hall Gate 2, with DPOS-GTD discussing the City’s active transportation initiatives such as development of bike infrastructure, data collection through the annual Bilang Siklista and regular infrastructure audit, and public awareness on active mobility including its collaborations with 350 Pilipinas. DPOS-GTD also shared the challenges faced by their department, including the need for more bike patrollers and personnel that would help expand and improve their services. One key learning is despite the continuous awareness of active transportation, the estimated number of bike-to-work employees of Quezon City hall is only around 80 to 100 while the estimated number of employees is around 20,000.
Public transportation measures and pedestrian infrastructure development were also discussed during the bus tour once the group arrived along Maharlika-Elliptical Road. The Traffic and Transport Management Department – Public Transport Services Section (TTMD-PTSS) introduced the QCbus “Libreng Sakay,” showcasing data such as ridership (almost 49 million passengers) and gender ratio (56% women passengers) which emphasized how the Libreng Sakay program has been helpful to commuters. Representatives from Cebu PPDO raised questions regarding implementation of the Libreng Sakay, reactions from public utility transport fleets, and concerns from other government agencies.
Afterwards, we were introduced to the refurbished alleys in Maginhawa Street courtesy of the Parks Development and Administration Department (PDAD). The project aims to enhance connectivity and safety of pedestrians along Maginhawa, as part of its broader goal in making Quezon City a walkable city.
The bus tour programme ended with synthesis and closing messages from Planning and Development Department (CPDD), 350 Pilipinas and AltMobility. Notably, CPDD representative emphasized the need for people’s participation for an effective and on-ground transportation and urban planning and development, very much aligned with 350 Pilipinas’ call for active participation and collaborations among governments and communities.
Following the bus tour, participants and organizers gathered for a socials night to discuss transportation and urban planning in greater detail. During the session, ten representatives from the Cebu Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) shared key implementation experiences, institutional challenges, and future prospects. They highlighted two primary hurdles facing local transport initiatives: varying administrative priorities across implementing bodies, which impacts project momentum, and staffing constraints, which place additional workload on existing personnel and limit the capacity to deliver transport and urban development projects.
The bus tour and the socials night participated by Sustainable Transport and Clean Air campaigner of 350 Pilipinas was an opportunity to learn not only on-ground transport initiatives and plans in Cebu, but opportunities that can be knitted with 350 Pilipinas campaign for better air quality in Cebu Province.
A Rainy Afternoon ‘Sustainable Transportation Gathering’ With Local Government Units
The convenors of Mobility Awards organized “Active Transport Count Training of Trainers (TOT)” on the morning of August 14, 2026. 350 Pilipinas set up a small booth during the training — a prompt question was pasted on a white board, where participants freely contributed their suggestions on how government workplaces can further increase the number of bike-to-work employees. The photos below showcased some of the responses:
The prompt responses highlight that active transport “soft” infrastructure—such as workplace bike programs, facilities, and incentives that support bike-commuters—is essential to making active transportation truly accessible and adoptable.
Later in the afternoon of August 14, 350 Pilipinas carried the discussion on both soft and hard infrastructure in a post-event gathering following the Active Transport Count TOT. The gathering aims to deepen 350 Pilipinas understanding on how active transportation is felt and experienced on the ground among cities from outside Metro Manila, as well as to share the recent collaborative activities of 350 Pilipinas with LGUs, such as the recently concluded Quezon City Workers Bike Bus and Mandaluyong Bike Bus.
Together with Mandaluyong City’s Active Transportation Office, visiting representatives from Baguio City, Butuan City and Naga City, and active mobility advocates, tackled how each participants feel about their respective cities’ active and public transportation, the related initiatives from their cities that they are most proud of, and a key active transportation challenge their city faces.
Local representatives from Baguio City highlighted their ongoing efforts to promote “smart mobility,” particularly through pedestrianization initiatives. Key projects include car-free Sundays along Session Road and the “Living Street,” which intentionally calms vehicular traffic to allow residents and tourists to safely and creatively enjoy urban green spaces.
While these initiatives have fostered community connection, it discussed key infrastructure hurdles. A major challenge is road connectivity and jurisdiction issue, as several national roads cut through city thoroughfares outside LGU control.
Baguio participants stressed that essential components of walkable cities—such as covered waiting sheds and dedicated footpaths—must be seamlessly integrated into urban planning. Looking forward, Baguio City plans to develop a Local Transport Master Plan that includes active mobility, keeping pedestrianization as a top priority for both locals and visitors.
The City Transportation and Traffic Management Department of Butuan City “formulate and plan” the City’s active transportation. They are “hopeful and ambitious” with their plans for the City. However, implementing such plans remains the biggest challenge in transforming Butuan City away from car-centrism.
Still, local collaboration is making a real difference. Marisol Tuso of The Climate Reality Project, who is also a local resident, shared her appreciation for how the city used Bilang Siklista data to shape local transportation codes and bike lane networks. The LGU actively consults mobility advocates, conducts participatory activities (e.g. L.A.W.I.G or Livable, Accessible, Walkable, Inclusive, Green Networks) and hosts community activities—like bike count festivals and push bike competitions—to get people involved in shifting to active transportation.
Moving forward, Butuan City representatives recognize that changing how the public views street space—putting people ahead of cars—is a major hurdle. As the city builds up its active transport programs, it prioritizes raising public awareness and showing the community the real benefits of biking and walking.
A community organizer walked us through Naga City’s efforts to strengthen active mobility through non-infrastructure initiatives. These include car-free weekdays and weekends (inspired by Baguio City), public awareness campaigns such as a month-long “Bike Month” every November — which are all included in Naga City’s comprehensive local bike ordinance. Under this ordinance, the city promotes the use of bicycles through community building, bike loan for LGU employees (bike-to-work program), bike-to-school, bike tourism among others.
Despite these initiatives, key challenges remain reflecting on consistent implementation of the City’s ordinance. Advocates in Naga City is currently pushing for a dedicated Active Transportation Office to oversee implementation, as annual budget allocations for active transport remains unsteady. In the session, it was recommended to add a specific funding clause to the local ordinance that would automatically secure annual budget support for active transport as well as establishing a dedicated office that would ensure effective implementation of active transportation.
The women bike patrollers of Mandaluyong City’s Active Transport Office (CTPMD-ATO) collectively recognized the improvement of active transportation support in their city over the years. Reflecting on Mandaluyong’s progress, they highlighted the “baby steps” taken over the years including the local bike parking ordinance, becoming one of the pioneering cities in the annual Bilang Siklista counts (formerly Metro Manila Counts), and recently in March 2026, the bike-to-work initiatives among city hall employees as an adoptive measure to the rising costs of fuel and community capacity-building efforts like push bike lessons across local barangays.
A major milestone in this transition was the formal establishment of a dedicated Active Transport Office in October 2025. Since then, CTPMD-ATO has spearheaded regular bike and pedestrian infrastructure audits and maintenance, implemented tactical urbanism measures to protect pedestrians, joggers, and cyclists, gathered data, and installed key facilities such as bike repair facilities and bike parking. The City currently looks into measures and incentives that would allow more employees to adopt bike-commuting. CTPMD-ATO looks forward in repairing bike lanes and installing bike showers/end of trip facilities while continuously conducting capacity-building and public awareness campaigns to promote active mobility.
During the August 14 discussion, CTPMD-ATO’s women bike patrollers emphasized that safe, gender-responsive infrastructure and programs are essential for encouraging more women to ride. Putting their vision into action, one key achievement recently, shared by Miss Ozan Ras of CTPMD-ATO, “we were able to invite women employees of city hall to participate in the bike bus!”
350 Pilipinas has an ongoing collaboration with CTPMD-ATO to promote active transportation that is inclusive for daily workers and women. On July 23, 2026 — Mandaluyong Bike Bus was initiated together with city hall employees calling for greater support on active transportation to allow more people, especially women, to adopt bike commuting. 350 Pilipinas is set to relaunch its dedicated inclusive mobility campaign, “Illuminate: Liberate The Streets! Light The Way!” in Mandaluyong City in the coming months following the Mandaluyong Bike Bus.
350 Pilipinas Calls for Better Mobility, Better Air Quality and Better Climate
Altogether, the insights from each LGU participant reflect real-world on-ground experiences, common challenges, and shared hopes for advancing active transportation. From Quezon City’s pioneering transport initiatives and Cebu’s hopes for sustainable transportation, to the ground-level efforts in Baguio, Butuan, Naga, and Mandaluyong, one thing is clear: local governments hold immense potential to reshape mobility. These exchanges reaffirmed that transforming mobility requires both physical infrastructure and active community participation.
As the Philippines is under a State of National Energy Emergency (EO 110), the national government mandates local governments to promote active transportation. But without increased support from the national & local governments, without sufficient funding and resource allocation, without policy backing, and holistic administrative support, active transportation will remain fragmented and inaccessible to the majority of Filipinos.
Sustainable transportation yields crucial co-benefits: economic savings, seamless daily commutes, safer streets, and improved public health. To unlock these benefits, transport and urban planners and the government as a whole must fundamentally shift their perspective—recognizing that transport planning is about moving people, not vehicles.
Based on the lessons learned from these interactions with local governments, we realized grounded perspectives on transport and urban planning builds people-centric mobility. We hope for all local governments to take inspiration from the best practices of one another.