structural:scholar_edition
Transportation

Transportation in the Philippines is by road, air, rail and water. Roads are the dominant form of transport, carrying 98 percent of people and 58 percent of cargo. In December 2018, there were 210,528 kilometers (130,816 mi) of roads in the country. The backbone of land-based transportation in the country is the Pan-Philippine Highway, which connects the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. Inter-island transport is by the 919-kilometer (571 mi) Strong Republic Nautical Highway, an integrated set of highways and ferry routes linking 17 cities. Jeepneys are a popular, iconic public utility vehicle; other public land transport includes buses, UV Express, TNVS, Filcab, taxis, and tricycles. Traffic is a significant issue in Manila and on arterial roads to the capital.

Despite wider historical use, rail transportation in the Philippines is limited to transporting passengers within Metro Manila and the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, with a short track in the Bicol Region. The country had a railway footprint of only 79 kilometers (49 mi) as of 2019, which it planned to expand to 244 kilometers (152 mi). A revival of freight rail is planned to reduce road congestion.

The Philippines had 90 national government-owned airports as of 2022, of which eight are international. Ninoy Aquino International Airport, formerly known as Manila International Airport, has the greatest number of passengers. The 2017 air domestic market was dominated by Philippine Airlines, the country's flag carrier and Asia's oldest commercial airline, and Cebu Pacific (the country's leading low-cost carrier).

A variety of boats are used throughout the Philippines; most are double-outrigger vessels known as banca or bangka. Modern ships use plywood instead of logs, and motor engines instead of sails; they are used for fishing and inter-island travel. The Philippines has over 1,800 seaports; of these, the principal seaports of Manila (the country's chief, and busiest, port), Batangas, Subic Bay, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, and Zamboanga are part of the ASEAN Transport Network.