Preparing for school opening, traffic pandemonium
The traffic pandemonium during school opening is the best evidence of failure in governance, not just of the government and politicians, but the collective failure of the people. It is the failure to plan strategically; organize holistically; lead with vision and passion; control the factors of population, car manufacturing and sales; manage density, volume and speed,, time and space, and density. What happens when high volume of people and vehicles make uncontrolled movements in limited spaces all at the same time with unprecedented density, and colliding speed. Twenty eight million children going back to school, in addition to 45 million of the labor force reporting for duty - at the same time - are the elements of total chaos and pandemonium.
There are immediate and doable solutions but the authorities have failed to establish these. Two or three months before school opening, directors of different agencies in Region 7 should have met and come up with synchronized and integrated plans. Regional directors of DepEd and CHED, DILG, those in-charge of traffic (police and traffic commissions), local government units, and those in-charge of public highways and works, should have common sense, concern and compassion, enough for them to discuss and agree on a traffic management plan for adoption of vehicle owners, school bus owners, and parents who are bringing children to schools and picking them up afterwards.
First, let us start with short-term and immediate solutions - largely a matter of common sense. Planners and administrators should address the control of volume in relation to time. School reporting time must be between 5:30 a.m.and 7 a.m. that students, pupils and teachers, non-teaching staff, and school administrators should adhere to. The President can issue an executive order authorizing regional directors and LGUs to have autonomy in deciding on working time and office hours. Office hours should start at 9 a.m. up to 6 p.m.; factories should start at 4 a.m. to 12noon for the first shift; 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the second shift; and 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. or only seven hours for the third shift. This way, the limited streets and highways will not be overwhelmed by volume of vehicles during limited time slots. .
The long -term solutions should include a viable, economically affordable mass transport system, light railway or train across cities, urban centers and the provinces. The private-public partnership schemes and build-operate-transfer system should be in place. Local politicians should avoid partisan interests and motives, and unite with the administration in formulating a 10-year transport master plan for every urban center. This should be complemented by a strategic land use master plan, including a segregated university and colleges center at the city's outskirts - like the interiors of Naga or Talisay - with mass housing for students and faculty and complete facilities supporting world class education system and technology.
If you, in government, neither have a plan nor intention to draw a plan, you should leave your jobs and give these to people with enough vision and common sense.
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