MMDA : no budget? no enforcers? no problem

Since Congress disapproved its request for an additional P300-million budget to hire more enforcers, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has no choice but to rely on technology to help it effectively manage traffic flow next year.

According to Jojo Garcia, MMDA assistant general manager for planning, the agency will roll out by January a traffic system funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It will not only make it easier to catch erring motorists but also allow the agency to improve the deployment of its enforcers.

Developed by De La Salle University students and engineers through a P4-million DOST grant, “Catch-All” (Contactless Apprehension of Traffic Violators on a 24-Hour Basis and All Vehicle Direction System) uses artificial intelligence to spot violators.

With Catch-All, Garcia said there might no longer be any need to deploy traffic enforcers to major thoroughfares, given the system’s accuracy in capturing violators. He pointed out that when a team of DOST personnel tested the system, the number of violations monitored skyrocketed to 10,000 from just 200 a day.

Most of the violators were bus drivers who illegally picked up and unloaded passengers on Edsa.