(Part I)
The new “no-window hour” policy of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority on Edsa and C-5 may purport to decongest both highways, but its threatened enforcement may invite legal suits and anti-graft charges against Thomas Orbos, the new MMDA general manager, and the city mayors who gave their consent to the questionable scheme.
Before anything else, a discussion about contemporary private vehicle ownership in Metropolitan Manila is necessary.
The cost of a fairly good quality vehicle, whether brand new or slightly used, is prohibitive. If the vehicle is brand new, taxes are imposed on the sale.
Thereafter, the vehicle owner must register the vehicle with the Land Transportation Office, even when no license plates are available, thanks to the incompetence of LTO officials.
On top of registration expenses, each motorist is required to pay a road user’s tax—a tax for the use of public roadways outside of tollroads. This is odd because prior to the road user’s tax, public roads were already being maintained by other existing taxes.
If one is driving one’s own vehicle, he will also have to secure a driver’s license. Like what happens in car registration, the driver must pay for his driver’s license immediately, but he has to wait indefinitely for the issuance of his driver’s license card.
By the way, at the LTO registration center located along Shaw Boulevard in Pasig City, motorists are subjected to a racket—motorists are required to pay a P30 parking fee, but they are not issued an official receipt for their payments. An anti-graft advocate will be suing the LTO for this soon.
Fuel prices are also prohibitive, especially during the first two months of every year when demand for gasoline is highest in America and Europe. Adding to the motorists’ burden is the value-added tax on the fuel. That’s 12 percent of the cost of the petrol. How the value-added tax adds to the value of the fuel when, in fact, the tax makes it even more expensive, is something the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue have not yet satisfactorily explained.
The cost of vehicle maintenance is also prohibitive. Spare parts are already expensive, and taxes on their importation and sale add to the burden on the motorists.
Since vehicles are more fuel efficient when they are driven at their optimum speed, fuel bills needlessly increase because of the horrid traffic along Metropolitan Manila’s roadways.
All these put together make private vehicle ownership in Metropolitan Manila very, very expensive.
Commuting may be the alternative to private vehicle ownership, but this is a far worse option, given the way the government, the MMDA in particular, manages the traffic situation in the metropolis.
Public utility vehicles (buses, jeepneys, taxicabs) are full precisely when they are needed most—during the rush hours. This is especially true for the MRT and LRT overhead trains operated by the government. Moreover, the congestion gets worse during rainy days and evenings.
Safety is another problem.
Because many overhead trains are old and improperly maintained, they malfunction. They grind to a halt between terminals, thus causing inconvenience to commuters. Their doors open indiscriminately even while the train is moving, thus threatening the lives of passengers.
Public utility buses and jeepneys attract many robbers even during the daylight hours. News reports regarding horror stories of the victims, and the lack of available policemen to deter theft, attest to this problem.
Depending on the time of the day, many jeepneys cut their trips, and there is nothing helpless commuters can do about it. MMDA traffic enforcers conveniently look the other way.
Although the law requires taxicab drivers not to choose passengers, this rule is honored more in breach than in compliance.
Taxicabs and jeepney drivers are notorious for ignoring traffic regulations, especially traffic lights. Each time these drivers violate traffic rules, they risk the safety of their passengers.
Many sex maniacs and perverts are into the transportation business. Remember the news reports of taxi drivers who gas their female passengers to render them unconscious, after which the driver molests them? Who can forget the news report of a private “for hire-on call” vehicle which became a mobile rape site for unwitting passengers?
Disabled persons have virtually no chance of getting a ride on a bus, jeepney, or government train. How many of them can afford to avail of the relatively reduced inconvenience a taxicab ride offers?
Commuting, therefore, may be an alternative to private vehicle ownership, but it is not a reasonable option in the premises. That is why there are many middle-class Filipinos who are left with no choice but to own and maintain private vehicles.
Since many new private vehicles are sold every day, the volume of vehicles in the metropolitan roads inevitably increases. This translates to more crowded roadways.
The MMDA may not know it but the traffic mess in Metropolitan Manila can be mitigated if the MMDA has the will to implement reasonable solutions to the problem. Sadly, the MMDA has not done anything in that regard.
Here are some examples mentioned in this column on past occasions, but which the MMDA under Francis Tolentino and Emerson Carlos seemed disinterested in, as shown by their inaction and ineptitude during their incumbency.
Along Edsa and C-5, slow-moving vehicles use any lane their drivers choose. Because the drivers of these slow-moving vehicles are inconsiderate and they ignore whoever is behind them, vehicles in the rear are forced to look for an opportunity to overtake them. Inevitably, the overtaking vehicles have to weave through the road, thus increasing the probability of road collisions which add to the traffic problem. Under Orbos, the slow-moving vehicles are still there, unabated, much to the prejudice of the motoring public. (To be continued)
