Only way to improve MM traffic: Control volume of cars

There is no question that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has been trying its best to solve our worsening traffic woes. It’s high time we tried doing things the hard way and aim at the very root of congestion, namely, vehicle volume, particularly in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. Widening some parts of Edsa may have improved the situation but only for a while.

The unabated increase of vehicle volume is the root cause of this gigantic puzzle which could turn our roads into miserable gridlocks or bring traffic to a standstill. The sales figures of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. in the first half of 2013 (87,000 cars) is indeed alarming.

This could mean that in 2014, sales could easily exceed 200,000 vehicles (including trucks but excluding motorcycles). Assuming only two-thirds of this number are for Metro Manila and allowing a reduction of 20 percent for junk and accidents, we still would have roughly 106,000 additional vehicles on our metro roads this year. Assuming a car occupies a land area of, say, six meters at zero speed (the trucks and heavy SUVs will need more room), this would mean an additional occupancy of at least 636,000 square meters of road area. Since it is physically

impossible to match the “loss” by way of constructing new roads or widening existing networks, the only way out is to limit the number of vehicles based on what would allow for comfortable traffic flow.

I am calling on the responsible government agency to do something about this fact, now.

—ALBERTO S. ACENAS,

[email protected]