Right in his backyard

President Rodrigo Duterte may not realize it but one of the best possible solutions to traffic congestion in Metro Manila is right in his backyard in Malacañang.

I refer to the Pasig River that should now be given PRIORITY status so it can be used more for the transport of people as well as for future tourism investments. The government is planning to build more stations and put in several more ferryboats to beef up the system, but this piecemeal or incremental approach is what is wrong. Past administrations have had “false starts” in their attempt because plans and projects were piecemeal and mostly trial and error.

Numerous attempts were made to set up the Pasig River Ferry system but the primary reason they failed was because the scope and service were never big enough, always left to the initiative or capacity of bidders or winning investor-operators, the system was disconnected from other transport systems such as the MRT and LRT, while past administrations saw the Pasig River Ferry “project” as just another franchise or project to be bid out to interested parties or campaign supporters.

The Duterte administration should seriously undertake a program development or put together a project proposal that puts the government as the initial operator and funding source of the ferry system that is based on the history and best practices of ferry boat operations here and abroad. By being the funder and operator, there is greater commitment to the service beyond profit and loss. The government would also be in a better position to integrate the river ferry with the MRT/LRT, bus lines and even open up a “connector” shuttle so passengers can continue to their final destination such as the BGC, U-Belt, or Ortigas and beyond.

With the government as operator, it can also address the necessary clearing or dredging of the Pasig River in order to provide a route that is free of navigational hazards or unseen obstacles on the riverbed. Once that is done, the ferries can travel at faster speeds so that the travel time and turn around time would be much quicker than being on the MRT or on land. Of course, it goes without saying that one major reason that the river ferry did not take off was because there were never enough units.

Now that the government wants to put up more stations, they should study a “parallel” reality where commuters simply want to cross the river and have been doing so on skiffs or dinghies or tiny bancas. Maybe DOTr Secretary Art Tugade can finally fight for his “Gondolas” or cable car ideas by having one or two proto-types built across the Pasig River between Barrio Kapitolyo and BGC or somewhere further down in Manila. Whatever the Duterte administration decides to do about the Pasig River Ferry, they should at the very least, seek the counsel of many. Ask people who use the ferry, believe in the ferry system and want the ferry to succeed!

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Our neighbor Rene Silvestre recently told me that many countries require public transport to write/paint the vehicle number on its roof so that it becomes easier for authorities to tag traffic violators via CCTV. In the Philippines it is not easy to tag or track public utility vehicles based on their plate number alone because the plate numbers are often dirty, mangled or located deep under the bumper.

This week I saw a CCTV footage of a jeepney that stopped to load and unload passengers in the middle of two lanes and obstructing traffic. The problem was you could not tell what the plate number was and would probably take several intersections to track and tag the guy. The MMDA and the LTO should get their heads together to enforce this rule.

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If our friends at the LTO bother to read this column, I would like to humbly suggest that they work with the Automobile Association of the Philippines and UP to come up with an actual CURRICULUM for drivers education prior to acquiring license. The current practice of giving student drivers five days to learn everything is a joke and an insult. Speaker Bebot Alvarez should once again pay the LTO a visit and ask them to present their curriculum or requirements before a student driver is entitled to get a driver’s license and own a car!

By the way, “rumor” has it that the “Tongpats” or monthly cash gifts being given by bus companies is once again ongoing and benefitting certain law enforcement units tasked to inspect bus companies. This is allegedly the reason why dilapidated buses manage to continue running and stay on the road until the next major accident. What amuses veterans in the field is how the law enforcement work has shifted to catching colorum vans that in reality are direct competitors of the erring bus companies. So while one arm of the law is receiving tongpats, the other arm is catching the small fry!

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The DOTr once again showcased their jeepney modernization program at an event in the CCP complex. They even had prototypes and hyped up the presence of government banks that were willing to give credit or loans for the new units. While wasting all that money, the DOTr has yet to show the public an actual plan and program on the re-education of jeepney, tricycle and bus drivers! The DOTR has also never presented a “buy-back” or compensation plan for the destruction of the phasedout jeepneys. Why? Are they simply going to relocate them to the provinces and pass the buck to LGUs?

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