Mall sales restricted to weekends till January

There’s a limit to that “midnight madness.”

In another measure to ease traffic during the holidays, shopping mall operators in Metro Manila will be holding crowd-drawing sales only on weekends.

The scheduling restriction will be observed starting Oct. 21 until Jan. 9, 2017, according to an agreement reached on Friday between the mall operators and the Interagency Council on Traffic (I-ACT).

Chief Supt. Antonio Gardiola, head of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG), said that apart from the weekend-only policy, mall operators will also be required to notify the I-ACT and submit their traffic plan two weeks ahead of their scheduled sale.

Mall sales that usually stretch up to midnight and run for several days have been an added traffic nightmare for motorists and commuters especially during the Yuletide season.

According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, mall sales cause the average traffic speed to slow down to a mere 5 kph on Edsa, where 16 malls are located.  —Jovic Yee