Tiklop Society of the Philippines

(Below is the Official Press Release of the Inclusive Mobility project, released 18 September 2012. Tiklop Society would like to congratulate all the winners in this Challenge, and may all the Finalists continue all their respective projects and contribute to making Metro Manila inclusively mobile — “of all, for all, by all”!)

Press Release

Among the winners: a business that has transformed the jeepney into a green and socially innovative way to get around cities, a program that gives bicycles to students at risk of dropping out and helps them stay in school, a service that subsidizes travel by van for poor persons with disability

Getting from point A to point B in Metro Manila is a stressful and even risky activity. Commuters squeeze into jam-packed trains, rickety buses, and jeeps. Persons with disability (PWDs) struggle with the lack of safe, cost-effective, and efficient means of transport. Motorists spend long hours stuck in gridlock. In 2011, 10 road accidents took place every hour in the Philippines; every day of that year, 5 people died and 79 people were injured in those accidents.

The good news is that there are safer, more efficient, and greener ways to get around the megacity. Judging from the results of the first-ever Inclusive Mobility Challenge, visionary Filipinos have found ways to move people — not cars — in Metro Manila.

“All of us dream of a Metro Manila where people, including the poor, the children, the elderly, and PWDs, can get around in comfort and with dignity,” says Dr. Marie Danielle V. Guillen, manager of the Inclusive Mobility project. “The innovation energy shown by the Challenge winners gives us a lot of hope. It reassures us that ingenious Filipinos and their groups are already working hard to make that dream a reality.”

Ejeepney Transport Corporation is at the top of the list. The company takes the Grand Prize of Php50,000. It promotes the electric jeepney as a sustainable and socially innovative mode of transport.

At number two is Bikes for the Philippines. The Bohol-based program wins the Second Prize of Php40,000. It gives bicycles to students at risk of dropping out and helps them stay in school.

At number three is Wheelmobile. The program bags the Third Prize of Php30,000. It provides vans, big enough to fit two wheelchairs, to poor PWDs so they can go to work, to places of leisure, and to the hospital.

Five runners-up prizes of Php10,000 each will be given to the following:

1. Bambike, a socio-ecological enterprise that hand-makes bamboo bicycles with fair-trade labor and sustainable building practices.
2. Pedala Bike Messengers, a same-day delivery service that is green and cost-effective and that generates employment.
3. CAT Bike Ride 2012, a program that makes the ownership of a bicycle, durable enough for daily use to and from work, affordable for the minimum wage earner.
4. The Tiklop Society of the Philippines, for promoting the use of folding bikes combined with other modes of public transportation such as buses, jeepneys, or trains.
5. Ridefind.ph, an application that promotes collaborative travel among daily commuters and weekend travelers within Metro Manila.

This year marks the launch of the Inclusive Mobility Challenge. The Ateneo School of Government received 26 entries from people or groups who have a project or business in Metro Manila that promotes mobility for all. Entrants who have activities that are up and running outside of Metro Manila could also submit entries as long as they could show that their projects were also applicable in the megacity.

An objective judging advisory team diligently selected a short list of 16 finalists from the entries. Then an independent panel of 7 judges, composed of members of civil society organizations, the private sector, and media, assessed the finalists based on four criteria:

• How well does the project or business meet the goals of the Challenge?
• Is it socially innovative?
• Is it sustainable, replicable, or scalable?
• Does it have concrete measures of its success?

About the Inclusive Mobility project

Inclusive Mobility is the short name for the project, “Catalyzing New Mobility in Cities: The Case of Metro Manila.” The project is implemented by the Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast Asia Program at the Ateneo School of Government with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.

For more information about the Inclusive Mobility Challenge, please go to: http://inclusivemobility.net/challenge/