"Unfortunately, discipline is a rare commodity."
"Unfortunately, discipline is a rare commodity."
According to reports, the Metro Manila Development Authority intends to revisit EDSA in an attempt to ease the traffic gridlock along the road.
After so many attempts in the past that all ended in failure, that even President Duterte has given up, MMDA will try one more time. Specifically, MMDA wants to relaunch carpooling and reduce the width of the road lanes from 3.5 meters to 3 meters so that another lane could be added exclusively for motorcycle use. Yesterday, there was a new report that all bus stations located along EDSA will be removed by June of this year. For starters, it is doubtful whether the first two schemes will reduce congestion at all. Carpooling could indeed reduce congestion along EDSA but motorists have always resisted the program and there is no reason why they should this time.
There are many reasons why carpooling has not gained traction. After-work appointments could be one reason. People who use their car to go to work do not necessarily head home immediately after work. Difficulty in making arrangements could be another reason. Still, MMDA should pursue the plan or a variation of it. MMDA could prohibit single-occupancy vehicles along EDSA but could sell road space to those unwilling to carpool but are willing to buy road space on a daily or monthly basis.
This way, MMDA could hit two birds with one stone. Reduce vehicles and raise revenue. Reducing the width of the road, however, is another matter. It could be dangerous. Narrower lanes will further reduce travel time and could increase road accidents. Assigning a lane exclusively for motorcycles has been tried before but discontinued. EDSA right now has exclusive lanes for public and private vehicles but is not being followed.
Most of all, it is important that we keep and follow international standards on measurements in our road system and the DPWH should therefore not agree. The traffic congestion along EDSA is admittedly critical and every means must be found to try to alleviate problem but MMDA should look for solutions that will solve not add to the problem.
If the report yesterday is accurate that bus stations along EDSA will all be removed by June, this will eliminate about 250,000 trips to EDSA a day and greatly lessen traffic gridlock. This is a much-needed step that should have been taken long time ago but it is never too late and if successful would be a feather in the cap of MMDA Chairman Danny Lim.
Right now, the only solution in the horizon is the SLEX-NLEX connector road which will eliminate all vehicles traversing EDSA originating from the south going north. Vehicles coming from the west or east could also enter the connector road to go either north or south thereby avoiding EDSA. The connector road will not be completed in the next 18 months but when completed, it can provide relief on the congestion along EDSA together with the other steps being planned by MMDA.
What everybody wants, however, is relief right now. Even with the opening of the connector road and the successful implementation of traffic plans, vehicles using EDSA must be reduced to make road use more efficient. Also, one of the causes why after compromising starts of some traffic plans implemented by MMDA fail or are discontinued, is that enforcement was not vigorously continued.
To solve this weakness, MMDA should enhance technology use to help enforcement like more cameras along EDSA so that the agency can go after violators. This will require making a computer program that can do the job and coordinating with agencies like the LTO and PNP so that enforcement can be coordinated. Right now, enforcement agencies have different systems. There is no single enforcement program and is the reason why violators often get away with many violations. A single program can track violators wherever they are even if they are not from the Metro area so that they are forced to pay their fines.
It is also time to ban jeepneys and tricycles using any portion of EDSA because of their discipline. Jeepneys and trycycles were banned from EDSA before but slowly but surely, they managed to get back and are now all over the place. This ban, however, will require a strong political will on the part of MMDA. There is bound to be resistance but it is necessary.
Anyway, the track record of the MRT continues to improve. There are now less stoppages of service and hopefully, the MRT management can provide reliable service in the future. With regard to the buses, LTFRB and MMDA should get together for the purpose of studying how to reallocate bus lines to reduce the number of buses using EDSA if not for now, at least for the future. There really are no quick solutions to alleviate the EDSA gridlock. MMDA I am sure is trying its best to come up with solutions under very trying conditions. For one, the law that created MMDA needs amendment to give it more teeth to solve the daunting traffic problem. The MMDA law is weak. It only gives the agency limited authority to solve the traffic problem in its entirety.
As I have written in the past, there is no major city on earth that can claim to have solved its traffic problems to the satisfaction of everyone and Metro Manila is no exception. The Metro road system is very limited as everyone knows. Traffic discipline can alleviate many of our traffic miseries and can make road use more efficient. Unfortunately, this is now a rare commodity and it is a shame.