Move As One Coalition

Metro Manila is one of the world’s most congested urban regions, where long commutes, unsafe streets and fragmented transport governance shape everyday life. While the vast majority of residents rely on public and informal transport, planning and investment has historically favored private cars, sidelining the needs of commuters and workers who keep cities moving. 

The Move As One Coalition — a national civil society movement of more than 140 organizations and 77,000 individuals across sectors — emerged in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a citizen-led petition calling for safer streets, protected bike lanes and emergency support for transport workers. What started as a volunteer-driven campaign quickly evolved into a broad coalition of commuters, transport workers, planners, youth leaders and advocates working to reframe mobility as a shared civic concern.  

Supported administratively by the WeSolve Foundation, the Move As One Coalition combines accessible public messaging with rigorous policy and budget analysis. The coalition operates independently of government while engaging closely with career officials, legislators and municipal agencies to influence transport decisions. Its approach emphasizes lived experience alongside technical evidence, ensuring that people left out of many transport policy decisions — such as low-income commuters, women, persons with disabilities and transport workers — have a seat at the table.

The Move As One Coalition has helped secure major policy and funding wins, including nearly $1 billion in public transport investment, enabling large-scale bike lane programs, national service contracting for public transport, the launch of the country’s first bus rapid transit system and reforms to improve worker pay and protections. The coalition also tracks budgets, procurement and on-the-ground delivery to ensure commitments are implemented as intended, while supporting local leaders and communities to translate policy gains into tangible improvements in their cities.

A core focus of the Move As One Coalition is long-term change. Through its Young Mobility Leaders Program and a growing network of locally led initiatives, the coalition is building a nationwide pipeline of advocates who are advancing inclusive transport reforms in cities across the Philippines. Together, these efforts demonstrate how a citizen-led coalition can shift narratives, influence governance and embed people-first mobility into everyday civic life.