Good News Network · 6 days ago

Coalition Pushed for Cycling Lanes and Better Buses and Got Them, Transforming Manila in the Process

For decades in the Philippines, 98% of transportation funding served the 6% who owned cars -- until 77,000 citizens across 142 groups decided to demand something different. Move As One Coalition emerged from the pandemic lockdowns, when shuttered buses meant empty tables for transit workers and the millions who depended on public transport in Manila. Through years of door-knocking, testimonies, and relationship-building, they influenced nearly $13 billion in transportation decisions, creating protected bike lanes, pedestrian boulevards, and dedicated bus routes that now serve those who had been invisible in civic planning. "With Move As One, we gave everyone a platform to connect, to meet each other, to hear each other's common struggles, to create that shared sense of solidarity," says national coordinator Rycel Bendaña of a movement that turned the margins into the center.