MMDA asks DepEd: Try 4-day school week
Imagine crawling your way through Edsa at only “1 to 9 kilometers per hour.”
This and other difficulties faced by motorists and commuters in the coming months prompted the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to propose a “four-day school week” to the Department of Education (DepEd).
MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino on Thursday said his suggestion would apply to students in all elementary and high schools in Metro Manila and was intended to reduce the daily volume of commuters, starting with these youths.
Tolentino broached the idea to the DepEd as a fellow MMDA official made a projection of how bad traffic would be on Edsa, the country’s busiest highway, once major infrastructure projects in the capital simultaneously undergo construction this year.
MMDA Traffic Engineering Center chief Noemi Recio stressed the urgency of having remedial measures, such as rerouting schemes and adjusted work and school schedules, at the start of the two-day Traffic Summit called by the agency in Makati City.
Without these measures, it might take a whole day for motorists and commuters to move through the 24-km Edsa end to end, Recio said.
15 projects starting this year
The MMDA said a total of 15 projects are planned to start construction this year, including the 14.8-km Skyway Stage 3 which would link Buendia, Makati City, to Balintawak, Quezon City, and cut travel time between them to 15 minutes. Groundbreaking rites for the project were held last month.
“We evaluated the travel speed in the project areas, and it would be between 1 kilometer to 9 kilometers per hour if no traffic measures are implemented. This summit needs to come up with an integrated management plan for all of them,” Recio said.
Communication plans
In a message during the summit, Tolentino said the various government agencies implementing the projects as well as their private contractors should “invest” in traffic management systems for the duration of their projects and that their compliance would be strictly monitored.
“We should be able to discuss how to provide the right public advisory and communication plans to provide safe and convenient walkways or alternative routes,” Tolentino said.
On Wednesday, Tolentino also proposed the adoption of a distance learning or “open university” scheme among universities and colleges in Metro Manila to reduce commuter volume.
He noted that construction works for the Skyway Stage 3 project, for example, would affect the vicinity of 23 universities and colleges, and several private and public elementary and high schools along its route.
“I suggest that more learning institutions in Metro Manila adopt this open university system as a traffic-alleviating measure. Our objective here is to reduce the number of students going out on the streets, especially during rush hours,” the MMDA chief said.
“In an open university, you only have occasional face-to-face class sessions, you communicate through the Internet, so most of the time you only stay at your home. That’s a big reduction to pedestrian, commuter and vehicular volume,” he added.
Among the schools that already have distance learning systems are the University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
Offsite campuses
Tolentino also suggested that more schools designate offsite or satellite campuses in provinces to reduce their student population in Metro Manila.
“Offsite campuses will help decongest student population in Metro Manila which, in turn, will redound to lesser volume of commuter, pedestrian and vehicular volume in our road networks,” Tolentino said.
The MMDA identified the other infrastructure projects lined up for construction this year as follows:
Naia Expressway Phase 2
Gil Puyat-Makati Avenue-Paseo de Roxas underpass
Sta. Monica-Lawton Avenue bridge
CP Garcia Avenue-McKinley Hill ramp
Repair and asphalt overlay of Magallanes interchange
Edsa-Taft Avenue flyover
MRT Line 3/ LRT Line 1 extension common station
LRT Line 2 East extension up to Masinag
LRT Line 1 extension (Cavite)
Edsa-Roosevelt Avenue interchange
España Avenue-Lacson Avenue interchange
Repair/rehabilitation and improvement of South Superhighway Makati
NLEx-SLEx connector road above the PNR alignment
Edsa-West Avenue-North Avenue interchange
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, who heads the traffic committee of the Metro Manila Council, MMDA’s policy-making body, asked the project proponents—mainly the transportation and public works departments—and their contractors to present their respective rerouting plans.
