Edu wants Metro ferry, train services upgraded

MANILA, Philippines - Administration vice presidential candidate Edu Manzano sought the expansion and modernization of ferry and train services to transform them into highly viable alternative modes of public transport due to Metro Manila’s worsening vehicular traffic problem.

The Lakas-Kampi-CMD vice presidential candidate said the next administration should fully develop the Metro Ferry and Metro Tren into efficient, safe and affordable commuter systems.

“We have ferries that can move commuters from Manila to Mandaluyong, Marikina, and even as far as Cavite, among other places. These ferries and their landing stations should be thoroughly built up,” Manzano, former national president of the Vice Mayors’ League and one-time vice mayor of Makati City, said in a statement.

“The Pasig River and Manila Bay, though polluted, are nonetheless traffic-free,” he added.

The Metro Tren, which runs from Manila to the southern parts of the metropolis, such as Taguig, should likewise be improved to make it a feasible mass transport facility, he said. “We need aggressive but workable strategies to ease the traffic problem,” Manzano said.

According to previous studies by the Department of Transportation and Communications, the traffic problem now costs the economy an estimated P140 billion in annual losses due to wasted gasoline, lost man-hours, and missed business opportunities, among other factors.

Manzano warned that Metro Manila’s traffic mess is wreaking havoc on productivity in factories and offices.

He said the “mental and physical stress” exacted by the traffic problem on laborers has adversely affected their effectiveness at work.

Despite the expansion of mass rail transit systems, many laborers in the metropolis and its suburbs still spend several hours commuting daily in cramped buses and jeepneys. – Paolo Romero