Even more monstrous traffic ahead

Traffic in Metro Manila is not something new. In fact, we’ve all lived with it, in one way or another, our entire lives. Whenever someone mentions they live in a country with traffic, we laugh because they can’t possibly know traffic until they have survived traffic in the Philippines. And for the most part that is all we did over the years, laugh at our desperate road congestion situation and just try to make the best of it.

Unfortunately, what was once an inconvenience and a headache has slowly mutated into something much worse and, as usual, the government has waited until it has become far too much to bear before taking action. Now, before I even begin, I have to start off by saying that I am not the type to blame the government for every little thing that goes wrong in our country. I try to be fair when I can and I recognize good work and effort where I see it. That being said, I do believe our government is reactionary instead of proactive. They want to make things better, but usually they wait until things have reached a fever pitch before doing so. How wonderful would it be if they thought ahead and made preventive measures so that things need not get out of hand before a solution is sought?

I am sure I am not the only one that feels the same as the anger and feelings of helplessness against our traffic situation have been growing worse and worse over the past couple of weeks and months coming to a head during last Friday’s horrendous monster traffic jam on the North Luzon Expressway. As some of those who were stuck there said — it was more a parking lot than traffic, and some were stuck on the nine kilometer gridlock nightmare the entire day, with many just opting to go home instead of to school or to work.

Of course, the terrible traffic jam was met with a barrage of complaints and users taking to all forms of social media to voice out their anger, resentment, and despair at their situation with traffic officials responding by placing the blame of the traffic on the one truck lane policy in Manila. Disheartening because it was a blame game yet again, and laughable because after they said that they sent a follow-up message retracting that statement and asking motorists to disregard it.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what was or was not to blame, what matters is that this was just another sign that the traffic situation in the country is getting worse. We’ve all seen it coming. There are far more buses, cars, and jeepneys on the road than ever before and we are not finding more space or alternative routes for them. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that our thoroughfares are reaching critical mass and if we don’t do something lasting and permanent soon (not these one-off Band-Aid solutions) then we are looking at continuously growing and worsening traffic in the coming months ahead.

And speaking of traffic, it’s only about to get worse, at least for the next two weeks as the truck ban is temporarily lifted from September 8-22 to make way for the government’s 24 hour “last mile truck routes.” This move is a measure approved by a Cabinet cluster to decongest the ports and means that trucks coming from the Port of Manila are allowed to get to their warehouses and destinations all day long without worrying about the existing truck ban. And the government’s only recompense to motorists for this? An apology and an appeal for understanding in the next two weeks.

Again, as I mentioned above, we see a reactionary measure to a problem that most definitely existed for quite some time. We all know there have been import problems and we’ve seen it in various ways like lack of goods, slow deliveries, and stocks running out. We all knew there were problems in the port but nothing was done until it was already too late. I wonder why those in charge aren’t more hard-pressed to find solutions before a problem escalates to the point wherein the average citizens are already feeling the effects.

And, as par for the course as well, there is lack of accountability among local and national leaders for the way the traffic situation has escalated into the full-blown crisis it is today. It’s just more finger pointing and everyone accusing everyone else. Why can’t they all just look at the situation as a shared problem and instead find a solution rather than finding someone to blame? I’m sure if they did it this way, a better and more permanent way of handling the traffic nightmare can be found.

Beyond just the headache and hassle that traffic causes to the average motorist it will also affect the economy in our country in far more ways than one. When it takes an average person over two hours to get to work, there is definitely something going wrong. That is two hours getting to the office and two hours getting home meaning over four hours that so many citizens are sitting in their cars, polluting the environment and wasting fuel (already expensive to begin with), and being completely unproductive. Not to mention, the inability to get stock moving to where it needs to go will ultimately raise the cost of goods in the country, yet another problem that is sure to be felt by everyone in the days and weeks ahead. What started with garlic can easily trickle down to other basic goods. I’ve heard just recently that lemons are disappearing now too and may soon be the next hard-to-find basic product.

In the end, the burden of traffic is sure to be felt by everyone — not just those who are stuck in their cars for hours and hours every day trying to get to school, work, or home. This will ultimately cause cancellations of orders, lost jobs, losses of income for daily workers who are under a “no work, no pay” contract, and operating losses for several establishments, not to mention lower productivity all around. This is something the Philippines truly cannot afford, especially since this will inevitably further lower the country’s competitiveness around the world. After all, which foreign investors would want to invest in a country with such a basic problem as daily gridlock?

I can only hope that by now the government is realizing that they have to make a lasting move against our traffic problem. It’s going to take all of them — both national and local officials to pull it off and that is already asking for a lot. We have to look at infrastructure, public transportation, and creating new systems on a national level as opposed to just citywide traffic ordinances. Let’s face it, we all know it’s going to get worse before it gets better, but that might be bearable if we knew that after the suffering a lasting and permanent solution would finally be in place.