Biyaheng De-pedal: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study on the Commute Experience of Filipino Cyclists in Metro Manila in Association with Social Practice Theory

In 2021, Social Weather Stations reported the Philippines’ Metro Manila with the highest ratio of bicycle ownership among households and the highest ratio of bicycle owners to car owners in the country. Through the lens of Social Practice Theory, the researchers used Materials, Meaning, and Competencies of Filipino cyclists in understanding the cyclists’ overall commute experience in Metro Manila. This study discovers the purpose of Filipino cyclists in choosing their mode of transportation and explains their views on safety, practicality, accessibility, and implementation of policies. The researchers used descriptive phenomenological research design and gathered data via online interviews. The data was analyzed using Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis. Results show the overarching sub-themes with the three main themes based on the participants’ responses: (1) Positive Synergy of Cycling, (2) Uncontrolled External Resources, and (3) User Managed Internal Resources. Cycling contains flexibility, efficiency, practicality, easy maintenance, and benefits health and environment. In addition, Filipino cyclists view their commute experience as a positive synergy especially for its practicality and its aid in health enhancement and environment refinement. Lastly, the advantages of cycling as a mode of transportation are the ease of management and the user managed internal resources. On the other hand, the disadvantages are the uncontrolled external resources including the ineffectiveness of cycling related policies and poor risk management.