Ban, build, burrow: No smooth road to traffic fixes

The country’s perennial traffic problem—which according to a 2017 Japan International Cooperation Study was costing the economy P3.5 billion in lost opportunities per day—has led to the implementation of various measures as part of the government’s “basketful of solutions” while infrastructure projects to ease congestion are under way.

Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) introduced two traffic-regulating policies during peak hours on Edsa. One banned provincial buses from plying the stretch between Pasay City and Cubao in Quezon City, while the other prohibited driver-only vehicles to encourage carpooling.

The second initiative, dubbed by the MMDA as the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) policy, immediately drew objections from the public, particularly from middle-class car owners who argued that they could not afford to hire drivers.

A transportation expert, Dr. Primitivo Cal, also cautioned against the HOV policy, saying it had led to the proliferation of “for-hire” passengers in countries like Indonesia.

He also argued that ride-sharing, while considered an effective way to maximize transport resources, could not be expected to significantly ease congestion without an improvement in the mass transit system.

Just two days after the MMDA started the dry run of the HOV policy on Aug. 15, senators unanimously passed a resolution urging the Metro Manila Council, the agency’s policy-making body, to reconsider.

The MMDA later suspended the measure’s full implementation originally scheduled on Aug. 23 but stressed that the dry run would continue.

“We need to do something. We cannot just wait for these infrastructure projects for three, four years,” said MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia. “There is no overnight solution [to traffic]. We all must make sacrifices.”

The need for drastic solutions reflected the government’s inability to solve the traffic problem which is lost in the tangle of bureaucratic mandates. The MMDA could implement regulations like the ban on provincial buses and driver-only cars only on national highways. But in inner city roads where much of the displaced vehicles from Edsa have transferred, local government units were in charge.

Coupled with bottlenecks in the development of transport-related projects, and changing policies resulting in these being shelved or delayed, it seems that for now, easing traffic in Metro Manila remains a pipe dream.

Current situation

Statistics also painted a grim picture of the traffic situation in the metropolis.

The number of newly registered vehicles nationwide between January 2016 and April 2018 reached 5.6 million, according to the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Of the 329,107 private cars, 186,643 of these were registered in Metro Manila.

Neomie Recio, MMDA traffic engineering director, said that there should be a road network of at least 8,200 km in the metropolis to accommodate the rising number of vehicles.

But as of this year, there were only 5,005 km, effectively turning Metro Manila into a “parking lot,” she said.

‘Build, Build, Build’

A bitter pill that has to be swallowed before long-term relief comes is the congestion resulting from the ongoing infrastructure projects under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program, including the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 extension line in Quezon City (expected to be completed by 2020) and the P9.5-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2 Masinag extension in Manila (2019).

Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade said his department remained committed to a “basketful of solutions” that could solve traffic woes, but a 2017 Commission on Audit report showed that 96 percent of funded Department of Transportation (DOTr) projects were either delayed or failed.

Among these were several big-ticket projects like the P53-billion bus rapid transit in Metro Manila and Cebu, which called for designated lanes for bus stations in Quezon City and along Edsa.

Initially proposed under the Aquino administration, the project were shelved due to logistical constraints, said Transport Undersecretary for Roads Thomas Orbos.

Some projects that have yet to be implemented include: Phase 1 of the Mindanao Railway project, the 107-km Philippine National Railway-Clark line, 700-km PNR Bicol line, as well as the common station for LRT 1, MRT 3, MRT 7 and the proposed subway project.

Tugade attributed most of the delays to right-of-way disputes, problems in procurement and getting the right contractors to bid for the projects.

The DOTr, however, has focused on an ambitious P354-billion subway project which would run from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.

Currently in the process of procurement for the operability stage, the project was expected to start this year, according to Transport Undersecretary for Railways TJ Batan.

In Makati City, Mayor Abby Binay last week announced that the local government and a private consortium expected to start construction of a $3.7-billion (or around P200 billion) subway system in the country’s financial district in December, with the bidding process to be completed next month.

Scheduled to be completed in 2025, the proposed Makati subway system can accommodate more than 700,000 passengers daily in its 10 air-conditioned stations.

More struggles

At the same time, the DOTr has yet to solve the problems hounding existing railway systems like the MRT 3 which will undergo full rehabilitation under Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. next year.

With the start of the repairs, Tugade said only around 12 trains would be left to service the MRT 3’s around 350,000 daily riders. This could result in even longer queues and more service interruptions, which have so far totaled over 50 since January.

As a stop-gap measure, the DOTr has been talking to Dalian Corp., the Chinese manufacturer of the 48 brand new trains purchased under the Aquino administration. The company has been asked to speed up its assessment of the trains’ compatibility with the MRT 3 system so that these could start operating these year.

Traffic emergency powers

Given the delays, legislators have pushed for traffic emergency powers for Mr. Duterte.

Under a bill which counted Sen. Grace Poe among its staunchest proponents, the President could exercise extreme measures to hasten infrastructure development, such as lifting the bidding for transport-related projects.

However, Mr. Duterte expressed disinterest, leaving the bill pending in the committee level in both the House and Senate.

Stricter traffic enforcement

With permanent solutions still in the development stage, government agencies have gone back to strictly enforcing discipline among motorists, on top of the twin ban on Edsa, daily road clearing operations and the continuous apprehension of “colorum” vehicles.

Through its no-contact apprehension policy, the MMDA apprehends at least 60,000 errant motorists a month.

Garcia also said the agency was planning on raising the penalty for illegal parking from P500 to P2,000.

PUJ modernization

The government, with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board as one of the lead agencies, has started implementing the jeepney modernization program, which seeks to replace aging models with Euro-4 standard compliant or electric hybrid units.

While the DOTr was targeting to roll out a total of 2,000 units by the end of the year, Orbos said there was a lack of manufacturers and importers capable of producing the needed units. —WITH REPORTS FROM FATE COLOBONG AND IANNA AGUS

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