MMDA launches 1st Metro intelligent traffic system

With just the click of a mouse, motorists will be better informed and ready to cope with traffic on six major thoroughfares in the metropolis.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday launched the first intelligent traffic system for Metro Manila in cooperation with businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s TV5, a program which an agency official described as its foremost public-private partnership project.

In an e-mail to the Inquirer on Sunday night, lawyer Yves Gonzalez, who heads the team that runs the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator, described the initial system as “simple” although he said it could be improved on in the years to come.

“Developed countries all have an intelligent traffic system that they utilize to improve the traffic situation in their country; it is about time that we also have one,” he added.

Gonzalez explained that the system was simple because it heavily relied on the MMDA’s closed circuit television network which its Metrobase monitors 24/7. In road “blind” spots where the MMDA does not a camera installed, enforcers personally monitor the area and report on the traffic situation.

On Monday, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino encouraged motorists to take a look at the system, which can be accessed at the agency’s website www.mmda.gov.ph, before they hit the road.

“They are empowered to make informed decisions on where to pass to get to their final destination, avoiding areas that are heavily congested,” Tolentino said in a separate statement. “They can now avoid heavy-traffic areas, which will be a great help for us to decongest the roads.”

The system currently monitors six major thoroughfares—Edsa, Quezon Avenue, España, C-5, Roxas Boulevard and the South Luzon Expressway stretch until Alabang. Portions of these roads are perennial traffic nightmares for motorists.

Users could look at the live updates in the system three ways: the “system view” shows the six roads in a color-coded diagram, and critical traffic points along the streets are identified.

The “line view” displays the status of all traffic points in a given thoroughfare while the “map view” traces the roads as seen on Google maps.