Avoiding mess in the metropolis

Metro Manila is notorious for its traffic jams. A trip that should take 20 minutes will last an hour or more especially during rush hour. Consequently, the Metro Manila Development Authority has constructed many projects to decongest traffic.

Such projects of the MMDA for motorists are the construction of flyovers (elevated roads), interchanges, loading bays for public utility vehicles (PUVs), emergency bays, and U-Turn slots over various intersections and thoroughfares. With the support of the Department of Public Works and Highways, it has also been engaged in road widening. The agency has also implemented various schemes for motorists such as the Uniform Vehicular Volume Reduction Scheme (UVVRS), more popularly known as "color coding", where vehicles whose plate numbers end in different digits are banned from traveling on different days; the Yellow Lane scheme, where yellow-plated PUBs (public utility buses) will only use the two outermost lanes in EDSA; and the Organized Bus Route (OBR) for Metro Manila. As of 2005, there are two different rapid transit systems in Metro Manila: the Manila Light Rail Transit System, or the LRT, and the Manila Metro Rail Transit System, or the MRT. Philippine National Railways also operates two mainline railway lines within Metro Manila, the Northrail which connects Manila to Caloocan City, is currently closed. Line extensions are proposed to Valenzuela City further on to Bulacan and Pampanga. The trans-Metro Manila portion of the still-open southern line, known as Southrail, commences at Tutuban station in Tondo, Manila, passes through the cities of Manila, Makati, Taguig, Parañaque and Las Piñas, and ends in Barangay Buli, Muntinlupa City, before entering the province of Laguna.

Consider these statistics. As of the census of 2000, the population density of Metro Manila is 15,617/km2. At and average growth of 0.5 percent annually, it is now very densely populated. The 9.9 million population and 2.1 million households recorded in Metro Manila in 2000 have grown to about 14 million. There are about 30-40 big colleges and universities in Metro Manila, about 20 large malls and recreation centers, aside from terminals and airports where people from all nationalities and other countries come and go.

The traffic and road management authorities and local government authorities can do only so much to maintain order and ensure smooth traffic flow in the metropolis. A lot of the solution would have to result from a high level of discipline and self-regulation starting with each individual. Each household must learn to manage its own surroundings, not only garbage and cleanliness, the aesthetic appearance and the observance of rules and regulations. Thus, not only should there be a smooth flow of people and vehicular traffic in major thoroughfares, but also in small avenues, side streets and village surroundings. An example of this which has become an irritation is in a Greenhills residential area in which Washington Street in Greenhills has been turned into a convenient parking lot for vehicles loading and unloading students in a nearby school to the exasperation of the residents in the area. Start with ourselves and our compounds to manage our over-populated metropolis well. One good turn deserves another and if everybody does good, we’ll have a better world to live in.