Dr. Varsolo Sunio

Details

Sex: Male
Education:

Doctor of Philosophy in Intelligent Transport Systems - Urban Management, Kyoto University, 2018
Master of Science in Industrial Systems Engineering-Logistics and Operations Research, National University of Singapore, 2014
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, 2007

Field of Specialization
Sustainability transitions
Active transport
Transportation
Urban Planning
Transportation planning
Traffic safety
Mobility
Transportation Science

Researches:

Article title: Does the greening of banks impact the logics of sustainable financing? The case of bank lending to merchant renewable energy projects in the Philippines
Authors: Varsolo Sunioa, Jaime Mendejard, Justin Reginald Nery
Publication title: Global Transitions 3(3), December 2021

Abstract:
As the Philippines pursues its mission of decarbonization in the energy sector by 2030, a target which aims to achieve a 35% share of renewable energy (RE) in the country's power generation mix, the broad participation of merchant plant developers and banks is crucial. Developers of merchant plants can generate supply of renewable energy, while banks can provide the financing. Nonetheless, banks traditionally do not lend to fully merchant plants, particularly by small proponents who have no implicit guarantor. In recent years, as more banks embed sustainability principles in their corporate philosophy, the question arises on whether this trend has also impacted the bank lending logics, especially with respect to how banks evaluate the risk-return profiles of RE projects, including pure merchant plants by small developers. Using qualitative research methods, we collected data through interviews and desk research from six banks in the Philippines (private and government-controlled, as well as universal and rural). To unpack the lending logics of banks, we presented ten credit enhancement options for the banks to appraise. We found that government-controlled banks, partly due to their mandate in supporting national development, have more appetite towards small merchant plants, unlike private banks, despite the latter's aggressive pursuit of sustainability targets. In the end, a fundamental gap between private banks and merchant plants remains. Since addressing it is crucial for the Philippines to achieve its mission of energy decarbonization, we end with some recommendations on how this gap may be bridged.
Full text link https://tinyurl.com/yckjhp53

Article title: Pandemics as ‘windows of opportunity’: Transitioning towards more sustainable and resilient transport systems
Authors: VarsoloSunio and Iderlina Mateo-Babiano
Publication title: Transport Policy 116(1):175-187, December 2021

Abstract:
We consider how the COVID pandemic crisis opened a window of opportunity for creating resilient and sustainable transport systems in Metro Manila, the megacity capital of the Philippines. Because of the pandemic, public health protection has become the top priority, which requires adherence to health protocols, such as physical distancing and sanitization, severely affecting the financial viability of operators of public transport. Selection pressures were unleashed, causing radical disruptions on incumbent public transport systems. Cycling, which was largely non-existent in Metro Manila, suddenly emerged as a top mode of choice for many despite the injury-related risks involved. A key finding is that the destabilization, while disruptive of the status quo, also creates opportunities for the government to pursue policies that may improve financial viability for operators and safety for cyclists, which include: revamp of business model from franchise to service contracting, social support and financing, implementation of bus rapid transit and infrastructure for active mobility.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Unpacking justice issues and tensions in transport system transition using multi-criteria mapping method
Authors: Varsolo Sunio
Publication title: Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment 96(5), July 2021

Abstract:
This paper uncovers the (in)justices that arise from the three cases of ongoing transport system transition in the Philippines, namely the (non–)legitimation of motorcycle taxis, the formalization of jeepney and the implementation of high-priority bus system. These three cases are touted as potential transition pathways to sustainable mobility in the Philippines. Originally a method developed for the appraisal of contested visions, multi-criteria mapping (MCM) is used in this study to analyze interview data elicited from 17 stakeholders/specialists, representing a diversity of perspectives, through the five lenses of (in)justice (distributive, procedural, recognition, cosmopolitan and restorative). Just transition is understudied in the transportation literature, and this research identifies the equitable outcomes the three transition initiatives aim to achieve and the historical inequities they seek to remedy, but also, and more importantly, unpack injustice issues implicated in them which, being sources of tension, conflict and discontent, may powerfully resist the hoped-for sustainable transitions. The article ends with some policies, drawn from the cases that may ensure just transition for all.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Rhetorical orientations for promoting sustainable travel behavior: A perspective
Authors: Varsolo Sunio, Robert Z. Cortes, James Lactao
Publication title: Research in Transportation Economics 101026, January 2021

Abstract:
We introduce eleven orientations underpinning the rhetoric for promoting (or impeding) sustainable travel behavior. These orientations are: convenience, status, health, privacy, safety-security, economic, environmental, impact, justice-equity, geographical, and problem-solution. Using a novel and systematic method, we perform the study in three stages. First, using online media as data source, we apply concordance and Gioia methods to identify the rhetorical orientations underpinning these texts. Second, we cluster the orientations according to the direction (pro- or anti-sustainability) being generally pushed by each orientation. Convenience, status, health, privacy, safety-security orientations, in general, push towards anti-sustainability direction. On the other hand, economic, environmental, impact, justice-equity, and geographical orientations generally push towards pro-sustainability direction. Meanwhile, problem-solution orientation appears equally in both clusters. Finally, we extract the semantics of each rhetorical orientation using collocation analysis to differentiate their vocabularies. Our findings show the discursive struggle and contestation in relation to mobility, which manifest not only in the differences in rhetorical orientations appropriated but also the vocabularies deployed. One important implication is that any attempt to render the messages promoting sustainable travel behavior more persuasive necessitates the de-legitimation of contrary rhetorical orientations (convenience, status and health, privacy and safety-security) by addressing the issues associated with them.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: How urban social movements are leveraging social media to promote dignified mobility as a basic human right
Authors: Varsolo Sunio, PhilipP eckson, Jedd Carlo Ugay
Publication title: Case Studies on Transport Policy 9(1):68-79, March 2021

Abstract:
We study how two mobility social movements with online leverage (namely AltMobility PH and Friends of Pearl Drive) attempt to reorient the trajectory of transport development in favor of commuters and pedestrians by activating State apparatus through politics. Both organizations tried to engage politicians and influence agenda-setting by the State. Drawing on more than a year of extensive ethnographic data and auto-ethnographic accounts, we explain how both social movements leverage online social media to build a spectacular public, forge collective identity, organize and magnify their advocacy.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: The State in the governance of sustainable mobility transitions in the informal transport sector
Authors: Varsolo Sunio, Paul Argamosa, James Caswang, Carlo Vinoya
Publication title: Research in Transportation Business & Management 38:100522, March 2021

Abstract:
We aim to contribute to the theorization in the governance of sustainable mobility transition in the informal transport sector with the State as the central actor and meta-governor. Because of the need to accelerate radical transitions in shorter timeframes, the role of the State as an agent is being recently considered. Using the ongoing Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) as a case study, we expound on the governance styles of the State in reforming the various sub-systems that make up the complex informal transport sector of a developing country, the Philippines. The PUVMP is dubbed as the biggest non-infrastructure public transport reform project by the current Philippine government. Our work represents a departure from the dominant focus of extant literature, mainly characterized by studies on State-sanctioned formal transport systems in the Western context. A key insight of the article is that while the State can deploy instruments of governance to accelerate the destabilization of the incumbent transport regime, the speed at which the State can foster the development of new niches that can displace the old regime can still be gradual. We end by discussing limitations and agenda for future work.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Social enterprise as catalyst of transformation in the micro-mobility sector
Authors: Varsolo Sunio, Miguel Laperal, Iderlina Mateo-Babiano
Publication title: Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 138:145-157, August 2020

Abstract:
The need to transition towards more sustainable futures is evident. This paper explores the role of social enterprise in urban sustainability transitions. Using the UP Bike Share (UPBS), a university-based bicycle-sharing social enterprise (in Metro Manila, Philippines) as a case study, this paper aims to bring a more explicit social entrepreneurship perspective towards sustainability transitions research as well as draw insights from social enterprise as a social innovation to challenge existing sociotechnical regimes. Existing operator models of bike-sharing systems in other countries are predominantly for-profit vendors, publicly-owned entities and non-profit organizations. Emerging from civil society, UP Bike Share, on the other hand, is a social enterprise that grew into a social movement with a well-defined advocacy, and became part of a bigger social movement of sustainability advocates. Where previous attempts to establish a bike-sharing program by the local government, international development institution and public transport agency in Metro Manila failed, the UP Bike Share represents the first bike-sharing system in the Philippines that was successfully piloted, implemented and sustained. We then expound on three mechanisms by which UP Bike Share can achieve such transformation, namely: market formation, insertion into the broader social movement, and replication of innovation in other localities, supporting wider sustainability goals. We end with agenda for future research.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Implementing Stage-Based Models of Behavioral Change as Menu-Based Intervention
Authors: Implementing Stage-Based Models of Behavioral Change as Menu-Based Intervention
Publication title: Transportation Economics and Policy 13, December 2019

Abstract:
Stage models are found useful to reflect the gradual process as to how a person can be guided to a change in attitude and finally behavior. This paper discusses how stage models, the transtheoretical model and the stage model of self-regulated behavior change, can be used to systematically inform the development of travel behavior change interventions. Stage-tailoring, a design approach that matches the interventions to the stages, is the most prominent strategy in studies that do systematically apply the theories, but an alternative approach, called menu-based, is also introduced, which is grounded on the theoretical conceptualization that stages represent an underlying continuum of action readiness. As illustration on how a menu-based approach may be applied, we present the Blaze mobility behavior change system.
Full text link https://tinyurl.com/2szya632

Article title: Analysis of the public transport modernization via system reconfiguration: The ongoing case in the Philippines
Authors: Varsolo Sunio, Sandy Gaspay, Marie Danielle Guillen, Patricia Mariano, Regina Mora
Publication title: Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 130: 1-19, December 2019

Abstract:
We present the ongoing Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) as a case study in socio-technical transition studies in the transport sector. The ongoing reform project, initiated and implemented by the national government, aims for a wholesale change of the public land transportation industry of the Philippines. Using a theoretical framework that combines institutional entrepreneurship, transition experiments, multi-level perspective and politics of transitions, we unpack the different elements comprising the PUVMP and their interactions, including power dynamics, to better understand and manage the complexity and dependencies of transition. A key point of the article is that gradual and incremental change is the most realistic representation of the socio-technical transition by PUVMP. This departs from the conceptualization that dominates transition studies of regime shift or niche disruptions due to singular technologies at the niche level.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Understanding the stages and pathways of travel behavior change induced by technology-based intervention among university students
Authors: Varsolo Sunio, Jan-Dirk Schmöcker, Junghwa Kim
Publication title: Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 59:98-114, November 2018

Abstract:
We describe how a mobility behavior change support system, called Blaze, is able to achieve a shift in changing the travel behavior of university students. We identify a causal pathway linking the effect of the technology intervention to its behavioral outcome through the mediation of a number of variables. The stage model of self-regulated behavioral change (SSBC) is used as a theoretical framework to understand how the outcome may be influenced by determinants (conceptual theory), and how the determinants may be activated by different intervention types (action theory). Using longitudinal data from a social experiment conducted over a month at a university in the Philippines, we test three hypotheses regarding the mechanism of change induced by Blaze. Our main findings suggest, in agreement with SSBC, that travel behavior change is achieved by a transition through a temporal sequence of four stages: predecision, pre-action, action and post-action. In an extension from SSBC, we further distinguish post-action depending on whether the behavior is on initiation or under maintenance. We observe that the former (initiation) is characterized by instability (either relapse or progress), while the latter (maintenance) by stability. Moreover, we validate most of the determinants of intentions as postulated by the stage model. Finally, we find that that Blaze can significantly change only the proximate implementation intention and not the more distal ones (e.g. goal and behavioral intentions). We discuss the implications of our results on the potential role of technology interventions in mobility management.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Development And Usability Evaluation Of Blaze Information System For Promoting Sustainable Travel Behaviour In Metro Manila
Authors: Varsolo SUNIOa, Jan-Dirk SCHMÖCKERb, Regina ESTUARc, Bon Lemuel DELA CRUZd, Mikhail Joseph TORRES
Publication title: Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies 12, April 2018

Abstract:
A number of programs aimed at promoting sustainable travel behavior have already been developed. These programs are implemented and delivered through various communication media. However, their development lacks an explicit theoretical foundation. Here we describe how the Stage Model of Self-Regulated Behavioral Change (SSBC) is used for the first time in the development of Blaze, consisting of Smartphone and web application. SSBC posits that behavioral change is achieved by a transition through a temporal sequence of different stages. Using SSBC, we systematically develop theory-based interventions. We evaluate the usability and potential effectiveness of Blaze among university students in Metro Manila, Philippines. Our results suggest that Blaze is relatively user-friendly and can provoke reflection about personal travel behavior. We also report a 4.6% reduction in car use. Some students have also progressed to more advanced stages in the behavior change process. Blaze thus has great potential in inducing travel behavior change.
Full text available upon request to the author

Article title: Can we promote Sustainable Travel Behavior Through Mobile Apps? Evaluation and Review of Evidence
Authors: Varsolo Sunio and Jan-Dirk Schmocker
Publication title: International Journal of Sustainable Transportation 11(8), March 2017

Abstract:
Mobile phone applications to monitor and influence one's behavior are numerous. Most developed appear to be health applications but in the past decade, " persuasive technology " has also been leveraged and applied to promote sustainable travel behavior. We discuss the health applications and review and evaluate existing behavior change support systems (BCSS) designed to promote sustainable travel behavior. We extract the persuasive features embedded in these systems and evaluate their persuasive potential by using the persuasive systems design (PSD) model that has been used to evaluate BCSSs in the health domain. Our evaluation reveals that some features crucial for successful travel behavior change, such as tunneling, rehearsal and social facilitation, are missing. Furthermore, we assess studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of these BCSSs in changing behavior and find indications that effect sizes are mostly small though methodologically robust studies are largely missing and hence no definitive conclusion yet can be derived. Based on these findings as well as literature related to public health where BCSSs appear to be further developed, we then derive three important suggestions on research needs and applications for further development of BCSSs in the transport policy realm.
Full text link https://tinyurl.com/2p8z74ym

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Dr. Varsolo Sunio