Commuters in Quezon City will be taught how to properly queue for rides at loading and unloading terminals across the city to help instill rider discipline and eventually ease traffic, the Task Force for Transport and Traffic Management said Monday.
Mayor Joy Belmonte backed the task force’s plans to institutionalize passengers lining up for public transport and crackdown on illegal terminals that contribute to road congestion.
Belmonte recently appointed Ariel Inton, the former QC councilor and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board member, who is spearheading the road-clearing operations dubbed “Bayanihan sa Lansangan.”
Inton, the founding president of the Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection, was appointed to lead the task force via the mayor’s Executive Order 9.
“We want Quezon City to be a commuter and passenger-friendly city. If you arrive early at the terminal, you could take a ride at once,” he said.
Inton said a study showed that without a systematic process, it would take commuters more time to take a ride.
He said he would also provide priority lanes for persons with disability and the senior citizens, and that he would recommend the City Council pass an ordinance penalizing passengers caught not queueing in loading and unloading zones and in terminals with immediate community service.
Inton said terminals at Kalayaan Avenue have already piloted the queueing system.
“I personally see to it that they really fall in line,” he said. “If we cannot instill discipline among passengers, we cannot instill discipline to everyone.”
Belmonte vouched for Inton anew, saying: “He has a vast experience being a transport reform advocate. I trust his programs in a bid to instill discipline among drivers and even commuters.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Belmonte has appointed taxation expert and former city administrator Dr. Victor Endriga as officer-in-charge of the Quezon City University.
The university’s Board of Regents passed Board Resolution No. 9, designating Edriga to replace former Budget Secretary Salvador Enriquez Jr.
Endriga was the city administrator from 2010 to 2013 and city treasurer from 2001 to 2010.
The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards cited Endriga in 2013 for his exemplary public service. He was also awarded by the Civil Service Commission as a Lingkod Bayan awardee in 2006.
Endriga is a graduate of Fiscal Decentralization and Financial Management of Regional and Local Government at the Harvard Institute for International Development. He obtained his doctoral degree in Fiscal Studies, master in Public Administration, and bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at the Lyceum of the Philippines University.