Transport group pushes 7 solutions to Metro traffic

A TRANSPORT group said that Congress need not grant President Duterte emergency powers to solve the debilitating traffic problem in Metro Manila as it pushed seven solutions anchored on a 1992 government-led study seen to ease the crisis within three months’ time.

Vigor Mendoza, national president of the Kilusan sa Pagbabago ng Industriya ng Transportasyon (Kapit), has said that instead of waiting for months or even a year for the granting of emergency powers, the government can already implement “doable” solutions.

“Emergency powers are not needed to resolve traffic. We can already do something tomorrow,” he added.

According to him, the first Aquino administration in 1992 released a traffic study titled “The Crowded City” which, among other things, identified the causes of traffic congestion in Metro Manila which had a population of eight million at that time, he added.

Cause of traffic unchanged

While it has been more than two decades since the study was released with the population  ballooning to almost 13 million, Mendoza said the causes of traffic cited in the study remained the same. These were the increased number of motor vehicles, inadequate roads, increased population and lack of discipline among motorists.

“Clearly, the findings and recommendations of the paper are still very relevant and applicable today. Based on the paper, a lot can be done without emergency powers; things that we can do even tomorrow,” Mendoza said at a news briefing in Quezon City on Saturday.

7 recommendations

Taking a cue from the study, Kapit’s seven recommendations were to modernize the public transport system by replacing old units with new, comfortable and convenient ones; mandate a government-controlled dispatching system similar to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s organized bus route system; implement an RFID-based eTag system to eradicate colorum vehicles; impose Technical Education and Skills Development Authority certification for public utility drivers; enforce a more aggressive antismoke belching campaign; open the roads not only in subdivisions but also military and police camps; and allow truck deliveries only between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.

Mendoza said that currently,  there were 2.5 million cars in the capital, 78 percent of which were privately-owned. To encourage the public to instead use mass transport, there was a need to modernize jeepneys which to date number 60,000 units catering to around 18 million passengers daily.

He added that while they were not averse to the idea of giving Mr. Duterte emergency powers, it should be the government’s “last option” especially since “less drastic solutions” were available.