Special Report: Metro Manila’s traffic problem: Worst is yet to come

If you think that traffic in Metro Manila will get better after several days of heavy gridlock, think again.

Camp Crame-based former traffic officials yesterday warned that the worst is yet to come.

They blamed the traffic woes not only on the Christmas holidays but also on the lack of experience of traffic enforcers of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to manage vehicular flow.

The MMDA has taken over traffic enforcement duties on major thoroughfares in Metro Manila from the Philippine National Police-Traffic Management Group (PNP-TMG).

"They still lack the skills and authority to enforce traffic laws," a ranking TMG official said. "Often, these traffic enforcers are ridiculed by reckless bus drivers or by abusive commuters."

While it used to take only 20 to 30 minutes to drive from Makati City to Cubao in Quezon City, it now takes from one to two hours along EDSA, the official said.

"The worst is yet to come. I suggest the temporary redeployment of traffic policemen along busy streets during the holidays," he said.

Year after year, motorists in Metro Manila have to endure massive traffic jams during the Yuletide season.

"There is always an influx of shoppers in Metro Manila during the Yuletide season," said Thompson Lantion, spokesman for the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). "The number of people on roads, especially those that lead to malls, usually triples, causing monstrous traffic congestion."

Studies made by the Traffic and Engineering Center (TEC) of the Department of Public Works and Highways showed that during the holidays, each person in Metro Manila makes an average of 4.5 trips a day or twice the average of 2.7 trips for the rest of the year. Collectively, Metro Manilans make some 12 million trips each day.

"People are simply too mobile these days," said TEC director Freddie Galano.

TEC data also show there are more than one million vehicles plying Metro Manila streets. MMDA traffic chief Angelito Vergel de Dios pointed out that during the Yuletide season, an estimated 20 percent more vehicles are added to this number.

These vehicles usually originate from outside of Metro Manila, driven by visitors who wish to shop at the numerous malls and shopping centers located in various areas around the metropolis.

‘Project Metro’

This Christmas season, the DOTC, in cooperation with the MMDA and the National Capital Region Police Office, has launched "Project Metro" to alleviate the traffic woes albeit temporarily.

As expected, the volume of vehicles around the mall areas multiply by a huge number at this time of year, effectively spilling over to all the connecting roads including the major thoroughfares.

Lantion said more enforcers are now deployed on the so-called traffic " choke points" and in mall areas to supervise traffic and assist passengers who are victimized by abusive taxi drivers.

De Dios added that the traffic enforcers of the MMDA along with their Philippine National Police-Traffic Enforcement Group counterparts have also been directed to work on extended time during the Yuletide season.

The enforcers would now be on the road for 12 hours a day to handle the traffic management chores of the metropolis.

Around 50 to 60 motorcycle units of the MMDA have also been placed on a 12-hour rotation to handle emergency traffic situations. The units are always on standby to go to the areas where they are needed such as the intersections with defective traffic signal lights.

De Dios said that they are expecting 90 more units of motorcycles before Christmas day to beef up the present team.

De Dios said that the deployment to the mall areas is crucial because these are the traffic generators of the season.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando also mentioned a re-routing plan in the mall areas in order to decongest the main roads.

De Dios noted that the idea is to convert the mall areas into one giant loop to force the motorists to move in one direction only. The entry and exit points along the major thoroughfares such as EDSA would be closed so the mall-going vehicles have to take the other roads.

However, Menardo Roda, president of the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston), points to the inconsistency of traffic rules as something that aggravates the traffic problem.

"We don’t know when a certain traffic rule is in effect. What is prohibited now to do in a certain place, may be allowed the following day. Many enforcers see us only as milking cows. They are not there to supervise traffic but to earn money," he said.

"There are also passengers who are very stubborn. They want to get off in a no-unloading zone and if we don’t stop our vehicle, they would jump off," he added.

The MMDA is hoping, though, that the scheme would be able to unclog the choke points and vehicles traveling along the major thoroughfares could move forward unhampered.

Wanted: A long-term solution

But Christmas or not, traffic is a perennial problem in the metropolis and it’s getting worse every year.

A study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1999 showed that the Philippines was losing some P140 billion annually to traffic congestion.

It also revealed that the national economy was directly losing some P40 billion yearly, covering the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel, man-hours, electricity, salaries of traffic aides as well as increased expenses for cellphones by those caught in traffic jams.

The indirect losses, estimated at P100 billion, involved lost business opportunities, depreciated value of real property and increased cause of health care due to pollutants emitted by vehicles.

The MMDA, as the primary agency in charge of traffic management in the nation’s capital, has admitted that there is no quick solution to the problem, which is like a refrain of previous years.

But what the present administration has identified as the remedies could very well take some time to accomplish.

Fernando said the task is not impossible but it would definitely take a significant amount of time to realize.

One of Fernando’s first programs when he took over the post of MMDA chairman was to clear the sidewalks and roadways of all obstructions so that it could be used to their full capacity.

He explained that the usable roads at present are not enough to handle the volume of vehicles in Metro Manila.

Nothing was spared. Ambulant vendors, signs, posts, walls and even trees were all on the list of things to be removed as part of the program.

Almost six months since the project’s initial implementation, Fernando admitted that less than 10 percent of Metro roads have been cleared of obstructions. He shared that inanimate objects were fairly easy to remove but when it comes to the sidewalk vendors, the MMDA realized that depriving them of their prime market space would take more than a few operations coupled with the usual propaganda.

Most of the vendors have since learned to become more mobile but in more than a few occasions some of them have resorted to violence against the MMDA operatives.

Another cause of traffic jams is the defective signal lights at various intersections in Metro Manila.

As early as two years ago, the traffic lights system project of TEC was criticized for several reasons, including the cost, technical glitches and delays.

Dubbed as the SMART traffic lights system, the project has become a source of ridicule particularly because of the irony of its name.

MMDA assistant general manager for operations Rogelio Uranza admitted that the system has already become obsolete even before it can be completed. Until now there are still several intersections that have not been equipped with the SMART system.

One of the most evident problems of the system is the flashing of signal lights during random times. Uranza explained that this is a glitch in the system that is partly brought about by the undisciplined drivers of Metro Manila.

He disclosed that every intersection is equipped with sensors located underground to monitor the volume of vehicles. A white line is painted along the intersections right after the pedestrian lanes to indicate the position of the sensors.

Uranza said that the motorists are supposed to stay behind the white lines while waiting for the lights to turn green. However, once a vehicle "toes the line" the system goes haywire and automatically flashes its lights to indicate that something is wrong.

In order to correct the problem, traffic personnel have to report this to the MMDA Metrobase, which in turn informs the TEC. The traffic lights at the affected intersections would then have to be "rebooted" from the TEC to get them working properly again.

Uranza lamented that in several cases the problem recurs even immediately after the system was rebooted, a clear manifestation of the bad driving habits of Filipino motorists.

Another problem is the system’s incompatibility with the transmission lines of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), which handles the transmission of data from one intersection to another and from the intersections to the central system of the TEC.

Uranza said that PLDT’s system is digital while the SMART system uses analog technology.

Yet another obstacle to improved traffic management is the age of our traffic lanterns. De Dios revealed that the average life span of a lantern is 10 years but those currently installed in our streets have been around for more than 15 years.

Along with lanterns, De Dios said that the control boxes of some intersections should also be replaced. He said new control boxes that cannot be manipulated by traffic enforcers should be installed in all intersections, not just major thoroughfares.

Until such time that all of these issues are addressed, the motorists of Metro Manila would have to continue to bear with the heavy traffic in December and the rest of the year.

However, Fernando gave the assurance that the MMDA is doing everything it can to improve the flow of traffic using various experimental schemes.

He urged the public to be patient with the experiments of the MMDA as he explained that all these are necessary in order to find something that works. — With Sheila Crisostomo, Jose Aravilla