The Manila Tranvia
If you have been in Hong Kong or San Francisco once, then you might
have seen their own tranvias still running, enduring the test of time.
Manila had a working and efficient tranvia system, I daresay more
extensive than the current LRT-MRT system we have today. The war and
the emergence of the jeepney will ultimately kill any moves to revive
the lines.
Manila’s streetcar system was started out by a Spanish Public Works
official Leon Monssour, apparently inspired by the same streetcar
systems in New York and Paris. He envisioned a five line network with
a central station in Intramuros and radiating out of the walls, to
Plaza San Gabriel, to Malate Church, to Malacanang, to Sampaloc and to
Tondo. His proposal was submitted to Madrid and found favor there, the
problem is an entrepreneur’s initiative (who said PPP is new?).
And that entrepreneur surfaced out to be Jocobo Zobel de Zangroniz,
along with engineer Luciano M. Bremon and Madrid Banker Adolfo Bayo,
they formed La Compania de Tranvias de Filipinas, and the
concession was awarded to them. The system was built from 1885-1889,
the Malacanang line was not built but the Malabon Line was instead
built. Of the five lines, four operated using horse drawn streetcars
and the Malabon line operated on steam.
The entry of electricity, industrialization and Americans will trigger
a significant change in the tranvia system. Increasing population and
economic activity rendered the old horsedrawn streetcars obsolete, and
by 1902 the American Government invited bids for the establishment of
an electric streetcar system, though this was published in the
Philippine Islands and in the US, only one bid was submitted. This is
the build of Charles Swift of Detroit, upon award of the bid, he
formed the Manila Electric and Rail Company, Meralco. By 1913, the
system has now 9 lines, out of the originally planned 12, with an
extension from Paco to Fort McKinley (Taguig). The system will serve
Manila and its suburbs until 1943, when electricity run out of the
city because of the Japanese Occupation. The tranvias will be
destroyed in the War, leaving only the ruin tracks as a reminder that
Manila back then had an excellent transport system. Some of the tracks
are still seen in Divisoria, waiting perhaps for an interested
investor for the revival of the system. But only recently, the DOST
and UP started to jointly developed an
Automated Guideway Transport System inside the Diliman Campus. The
AGT lines inside the campus serves as the laboratory for future
improvements for our mass transport systems, if expansions, prototype
models or improvements must be warranted. For instance, the current
LRT and MRT designs are not that very suitable to narrow and
unexpandable urban roads, just see the Taft Avenue and EDSA for
example. The DOST project might be the savior our long lost tranvia
lines are waiting for. For the news, click
here.
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