Solon: MMDA used wrong tactic to promote HOV policy

It’s all in the packaging, according to Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo who scoffed at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for its failure to win public support for its high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) policy on Edsa. Castelo, chair of the House committee on Metro Manila development, said the MMDA used the wrong tactic to promote its newest scheme to solve the traffic problem on Edsa. Instead of trumpeting the ban on driver-only private vehicles, the agency should have encouraged carpooling that would have the same result of limiting the number of vehicles on the major thoroughfare, Castelo added. “The intention was correct but the marketing was wrong,” he told reporters. “If that [carpooling] was the packaging, I think it would have generated less resistance [from the people],” Castelo said. “So instead of having a campaign not to use Edsa, [it should have been] ‘win a friend and join your colleagues,’” he said. The MMDA has temporarily postponed the full implementation of the HOV policy following widespread criticism from the public. —Marlon Ramos