ECQ exposes mobility anew as an essential part of society

Once again, we yield this space to Vince SOCCO, the incomparable master of discoursing any topic under the sun, and who was recently resurrected by Toyota chairman Alfred Ty to continue spreading the gospel in the carworld. This time, he bares his mind on the covid-19 pandemic.

MAN was born to roam. Whether it is for sheer survival, adventure, the search of new opportunities or just plain fun, we are compelled to move. As well, man is basically a social creature. We are tribal and have a strong need to belong and to be among others. Staying in place and staying apart are simply not in our nature.

Since March 16, 2020, that changed.

To say that the Covid-19 pandemic caught the world by surprise is probably an understatement. Or maybe we were just too complacent. It has now affected 210 countries around the world with the number of global infections shattering the 2-million mark and deaths exceeding 130,000. The piece of good news is that recoveries outpace deaths by almost four to one.

As the pandemic spread around the world, country after country shut its borders and started to “lockdown” its own society and economy, confining people to their homes except for essential movements. In the context of a free world, this was shocking if not downright unimaginable. Failing a vaccine, the only way to mitigate the spread of the virus was to effect stringent social distancing measures together with the use of personal protective equipment and elevated personal hygiene practices.

Economy in recession

THE lockdowns were coupled with a decision to put the economy in recession. Governments chose to shut down their economies to save lives, the Philippines included. Some estimates place the cost to the world economy at $9 trillion. The international economy is falling headlong into a massive recession, with global gross domestic product projected by the International Monetary Fund to fall to minus 3 percent, from a 2.4-percent growth in 2019. In the Philippines, latest Neda projections put our GDP growth at below zero.

On top of the economic fallout is the social cost. In the United States, unemployment claims soared to 21 million in just a month. The numbers of those who lost their jobs in the Philippines are probably not any less significant. Hardest hit are daily wage earners and those in the informal economy. Even a good number of our beloved overseas Filipino workers were not spared.

The suddenness of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) caught everyone unprepared. One day it was business-as-usual, the next, we were confined to our homes. This resulted in confusion, heightened anxiety and very significant disruptions to daily life. The battle for lives and livelihood is truly affecting us in more ways than we can probably understand at this time. Some will be temporary, others will be lasting.

The automotive industry will not be spared from the fallout of global social and economic lockdowns. From the supply side, production has been disrupted by breakdowns in the supply chain. On the demand side, a significant drop in discretionary income will surely impact on purchases of consumer durables. Capital expenditures by the business sector is also expected to decline. The only question is by how much all this will impact on sales numbers.

No playbook

BUT, perhaps, that is not the right question to focus on at this time. Surely, the impact will not be small. But businesses have natural responses in place carried over from previous crisis—the usual lineup of cost reduction, revenue maximization, cleaning up balance sheets, preserving cash and so on. On the other hand, the question about how to reconfigure business models and practices as a result of the pandemic will be abundant with opportunities. In fact, focusing on this latter question will be more compelling and urgent since there is no playbook to go by. We will write it as we pull ourselves out from the chaos that this pandemic has wrought on us.

When the ECQ went into effect, what became clearly—and quickly—evident, was that mobility is an essential part of society and the economy. Shutting down transport systems crippled the ability of essential workers to report to their workplace. As well, in order to keep essential social services supplied, it was determined that the movement of cargo and goods needed to go unhampered.

Even when the economy shuts down, society and people need mobility. Sadly, the pandemic exposed the vulnerability of current transport systems. In this type of crisis, traditional modalities were ruled out because of inadequacies in the need for distancing and compliance with sanitation protocols. Mass transport as it is today is hard to repurpose to mitigate health risks.

This is an opportunity for auto makers to accelerate the development of self-driving vehicles, to eliminate the unnecessary risk to drivers and enable quick mobility reaction teams. These mobility platforms can be configured to assure adequate distancing, including provisions for proper hygiene. Mobility platforms that can readily be repurposed will give the public sector much needed flexibility in deploying—and augmenting— its fleet of emergency and firstresponder units. This coronavirus 2019 pandemic has painfully shown us that the need for these types of vehicles is not in the future, but today. (To be continued.)

PEE STOP With no immediate cure in sight, seemingly, let us keep the faith aflame. Believe because God, whatever you conceive Him to be, will never leave us. His will be done.