The sorriest-looking traffic enforcers in the world

TODAY IS Friday the 13th which, according to superstition, is supposed to bring bad luck. So be careful in everything you do today, especially while driving.

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The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is running out of ideas on how to improve traffic flow in the metropolis, especially on Edsa. Its latest idea is to create still another lane to be called the Edsa Express. This lane, one of two lanes reserved for buses, will be for bus companies that will agree to merge and form leaner fleets and thus reduce the number of buses plying the Edsa route.

Actually, the problem is very simple: There are too many vehicles not only on Edsa but all over the metropolis. So the solution is also simple: Reduce the number of vehicles on Edsa.

That may be hard to do with private vehicles but it should be easy with buses (and also jeepneys) because they operate as a public service by special permission of the government. In other words, private vehicles have a right to be on the streets, but buses and jeepneys have only a privilege granted them that can be withdrawn.

But how do you reduce the number of public vehicles? They have franchises.

Again, a franchise is a privilege and can be withdrawn. There ought to be a law that would cancel the franchise of a public vehicle whose driver violates traffic rules at least three times. Three strikes and you’re out.

The original idea for Edsa and Rizal Avenue was that the elevated rail trains, because they are faster and cheaper, would wean passengers away from buses and jeepneys. Then, because of falling fare collections, the operators would reduce their fleets voluntarily rather than lose money by operating vehicles with little or no passengers. Thus, the number of public vehicles would diminish by attrition.

But it didn’t happen that way. The elevated rail operators did not buy enough trains and coaches to accommodate all the passengers wanting to ride them. We see that every day: Passengers are crammed like sardines in the trains and long lines of passengers waiting for rides stretch to the streets below. So while the trip itself is fast, the waiting period is long. With no other alternative, commuters stayed with the buses and jeepneys.

But the problem was that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board was too generous in granting franchises. (Or maybe the fixers were too persuasive.) The metropolis, especially Edsa, now has many times more vehicles than it can hold. According to official records, there are about 12,000 city and provincial buses now plying Edsa every day, but the yellow lanes reserved for them can hold only 1,600 buses.

The problem was exacerbated when the previous MMDA administration run by someone who became a presidential candidate (and who, therefore, was courting votes) gave the provincial buses another lane. Shouldn’t provincial buses stay in the provinces and outside city limits? When the city was not so crowded, it was all right to bring passengers right to their doorsteps in the city. But now that there is no more room for more buses, shouldn’t the city be off-limits to provincial buses? They can drop their passengers at terminals in Alabang and Valenzuela. There are more than enough city buses to take them to the inner cities.

Speaking of terminals, there was a plan a very long time ago that city buses wait at strategic terminals and be dispatched as needed. The idea was to eliminate long lines of half-empty buses crowding the streets, wasting precious fuel and polluting the air. Buses dawdling at bus stops and waiting for passengers often cause turtle-paced traffic in the streets. So what happened to that plan?

The Edsa Express proposed by MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino may not be that easy to accomplish. The bus operators may not be able to agree among themselves. What would they do with the buses, drivers and conductors who would be left idle? The vehicles have to earn to pay for their amortization, and the drivers and conductors have to earn their daily wages to feed their families.

And how can you enforce the Edsa Express fast lanes when MMDA traffic enforcers disappear into the carinderias and fast-food chains when it is free lunch and dinner time?

I think the MMDA should improve its law enforcement force. It has the sorriest-looking traffic enforcers in the world, with their ill-fitting blue uniforms that cannot hide their bulging bellies (too many free lunches?). Drivers do not respect or fear them. A traffic enforcer must look authoritative and neat to be respected.

When drivers are sure that they will be arrested if they violate traffic rules, they will discipline themselves. For example, bus and jeepney drivers load and unload passengers in no loading/unloading zones, and even in the middle of the street, even when there are traffic enforcers around, because they are not arrested. And if they are arrested, the drivers can persuade the enforcers to forget the whole thing with P100 bills.

As for cutting the number of private vehicles, buy more trains and coaches (and improve the Philippine National Railways commuter service) so more motorists will leave their cars behind and take to the rails. In fact, that was the original idea for the Metro Rail. There would be parking lots beside the rail stations so the car owners can leave their chariots there and ride the trains. But the rail operators did not follow that plan to save on expenses. That was a good plan. It’s not yet too late to implement it.