SOME 5,454 illegally parked vehicles were seized and towed in less than four months of sidewalk clearing operation on the 17 Mabuhay Lanes, pushed by the government as alternative routes for private vehicles affected by the revised number coding scheme.
Some of the towed vehicles were impounded at the site managed by the Metro Manila Development Authority at the University of Life (Ultra) Pasig City while the others were brought to the impounding area of Land Transportation Office in Tarlac City.
Aside from illegally parked cars, members of the Inter-agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) were also able to take into custody more than 200 unregistered public utility vehicles in various parts of the metropolis as part of the government’s intensified measure to ease traffic in the National Capital Region.
“A total of 23 vehicles were towed while 28 tickets were issued for various traffic violations,” the MMDA said in its report on the latest anti-colorum and sidewalk clearing operation at the corner of Gil Puyat Street and Taft Avenue in Pasay City.
The I-ACT team, composed of personnel from the MMDA, Land Transportation Office and Police – Highway Patrol Group (HPG), also enforced the suspension of the no window hours in the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program or the Number Coding Scheme, and the No Helmet, No Travel Policy.
Covered by the number coding scheme are Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Circumferential Road-5 (C-5 Road), Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard, and in the cities of Mandaluyong, Makati, and Las Piñas.
The government also agreed to add 15 more roads to be covered by the scheme—Rizal Avenue, Claro M. Recto Avenue, Taft Avenue, Del Pan Street, President Quirino Avenue, Araneta Avenue, Marcos Highway, MacArthur Highway, Shaw Boulevard, Ortigas Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Magsaysay Boulevard, Aurora Boulevard, A. Bonifacio Avenue and South Luzon Expressway.
“We advise private motorists affected by the number coding scheme to use the 17 Mabuhay Lanes as alternate routes to avoid apprehension,” said HPG commander Antonio Gardiola Jr.
Violators are fined P300 and be given citation tickets.
The 17 Mabuhay Lanes are alternative routes to the already congested Edsa.
These cover the cities of Mandaluyong, San Juan, Makati, Manila, and Quezon City. It also include secondary roads going to shopping destinations in Metro Manila such as Baclaran in Parañaque, Greenhills in San Juan, Divisoria, and Carriedo in Manila.
Meanwhile, members of the Metro Manila Council, the MMDA’s policy making body, agreed to come up with a unified ticketing system for traffic violations.
In a recent meeting, the MMC, composed of the local chief executives in the NCR, committed to pass uniform ordinances on traffic violation fines and penalties.
The MMDA, LTO and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board also agreed to modify their rates.
This initiative is consistent with the government’s move to establish a single traffic authority through the I-ACT, which aims to centralize and solidify traffic enforcement in Metro Manila under one chain of command.
Among the goals of the I-ACT is to get the local government units to eventually agree on a single ticketing system.
In the current set-up, the MMDA, LGUs, LTO, and LTFRB have different rates for different traffic violations. Apprehended motorists would have to pay different fines, depending on who flagged them and where.
The cooperation between the national government and the LGUs is seen as a positive move towards addressing traffic and transportation issues in the metropolis.