Making traffic flow

As if the traffic situation in the metropolis were not bad enough, the Metro Manila Development Authority has warned residents to brace for worse conditions in the next few years, when a number of construction projects will be undertaken by the government. Coming on the heels of the public outcry against the shocking power rate increase, the announcement has worried many residents who have to waste many hours sitting in traffic while heading to and coming from work.

The MMDA last week advised motorists and commuters to brace for heavy traffic until 2016: Thirteen road and mass transport projects of the Departments of Transportation and Communications and of Public Works and Highways are to start, and “there will be a point when they will happen simultaneously.” Among the projects are the common station that will connect LRT 1 and MRT 3 in Quezon City in July 2014-September 2015; the LRT 2 extension on Marcos Highway from Santolan station to Sumulong Highway, November 2014-June 2016; the road project connecting Bonifacio Global City to Ortigas Center, starting in July; a 4-lane underpass project on Gil Puyat Avenue that will pass through the intersections of Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas starting in April; and the proposed Edsa North-Mindanao Avenue interchange and the Circumferential Road 3 (C3) project.

In the long run, Metro Manila residents can look forward to a better transport infrastructure—and possibly better traffic flow—after all these projects shall have been finished. However, even before these projects begin, it behooves the MMDA and other government agencies to put in place measures to mitigate the impact on traffic. Among the most urgent is to discipline bus drivers who weave in and out of Edsa and Commonwealth Avenue in shameless disregard of other motorists, then stop nearly perpendicular to the road on bus stops, in the process blocking the flow of traffic. We disagree with the observation that Filipino drivers are simply bad, reckless and rude drivers. The Subic free port, where almost everyone who has been there is all praise for the road discipline, proves this.

The MMDA must also ban parking on the streets. A drive around the metropolis will show that many vehicle owners have made roadsides their permanent parking slots, believing—wrongly—that the street in front of their house is part of their property. Fixing stoplights and ensuring that traffic enforcers are at work at key intersections especially during rush hours in the morning and early evening will also help ease the traffic congestion. Educating drivers about the yellow boxes at intersections is another measure that the MMDA can undertake. The government can also move to phase out old cars and trucks that ply major thoroughfares ever so slowly. As it is, one vehicle that breaks down on Edsa can cause traffic to pile up for kilometers.

The government must also remove jeepney and tricycle terminals on the roadsides. Add to these the sidewalk vendors who encroach on as much as two lanes of the road. The MMDA will need the full support of local government units because the mayors and their barangay captains have the influence over those jeepney and tricycle terminals and illegal vendors. The private sector can also do its part by allowing some of its personnel to work at home. It has been estimated that nearly a million people are added to the population of the Makati central business district on regular working days. If only 5-10 percent of these are allowed to work at home, that would mean 50,000 to 100,000 less people driving or commuting to their work places every day. Another possible alleviating measure is to provide incentives to private firms that will revive the Pasig River ferry service.

The remaining years of the Aquino administration will truly be bad news for Metro Manila residents insofar as the traffic situation is concerned. We can only hope that the various road and mass transport projects to be undertaken in the next three years will indeed ease traffic flow. The public transport system must improve to a level that will make many car owners leave their vehicles at home and start riding the MRT or public buses to work. When the number of vehicles plying Metro Manila’s road network is reduced, traffic will hopefully flow more easily.