METRO Manila Development Authority officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos on Friday met shopping mall owners and operators to discuss measures to effectively address the anticipated traffic problems during anniversary sales and the forthcoming Christmas season.
Orbos invited the mall owners and operators to his office to assist the MMDA to “further improve its preparations of appropriate traffic engineering and enforcement during mall sales and other crowd-drawing events.”
“We have plenty of shoppers during the Christmas season and we are anticipating traffic problems,” said Orbos.
Representatives from the Interagency Council on Traffic (I-ACT), wherein the MMDA is also a member, also attended the meeting at the MMDA central office in Makati City.
MMDA officials said shopping malls and similar commercial establishments are traffic generators during the holidays.
Last year, the mall operators agreed to adjust their business hours from the usual 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. mall hours to 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., which began from Dec. 1 to Jan. 3.
The MMDA has made an agreement yearly with mall operators to help decongest traffic where these commercial establishments are located during the day time and night time holiday rush.
Under the agreement, mall and shopping center owners and operators will coordinate with the MMDA during special events like promotions and midnight sales, as well as disaster-preparedness exercise such as earthquake drills.
It also stated that in cases like concerts and the traditional New Year countdown, the establishments will be closing beyond 11 p.m.
Shopping mall business hour is usually open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Thursday then by Friday until Sunday it’s 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Aside from the business hours, the mall operators also agreed to deploy more security personnel to man traffic and assist their clients and motorists in and around the shopping malls.
The MMDA asked the business establishments to provide the agency with the schedule of special events for the agency to make necessary adjustment of the traffic management in their respective areas.
Records showed that traffic volume rises 15 to 20 percent between November and December. It also showed that “midnight sales” or extended mall business hours contribute to the worsened traffic in the metropolis during the Yuletide.
Orbos earlier urged Metro Manila mayors to consider putting up night markets in their respective areas to help sidewalk vendors do their business during the holiday season.
He came up with the idea as the agency resumed its campaign clearing sidewalk and major roads of illegal vendors and other obstruction which contribute to the worsening traffic condition in Metro Manila, especially with the onset of the peak season for consumer buying.
Orbos said the MMDA is willing to assist the LGUs in setting up night markets and provide proper places for merchants to keep them off the sidewalks.
In 2013, the MMDA designated 17 routes as Christmas lanes to help motorists to avoid heavy traffic during the holiday rush.
The special lanes were opened as alternate routes to shorten the travel time of motorists during the holidays, when vehicular traffic flow is heavy.