Decongesting EDSA

Today the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will continue to implement the driver-only or high-occupancy vehicle traffic scheme along EDSA, which is on a dry run until Aug. 22. Malacañang is urging the public to give the HOV a chance.

The MMDA said it respected the Senate, which passed a resolution last Wednesday against the HOV scheme. At least one Metro Manila mayor also said the HOV would not be implemented in his city.

With lawmakers pointing out that the scheme merely moves traffic jams to other parts of the mega city, however, it looks like the HOV is going to be short-lived. MMDA officials said they continued to seek other ways of easing traffic on the busiest thoroughfare in Metro Manila.

What else can be done? Several long-term answers have been proposed, with some of them being gradually implemented.

One, already discussed extensively, is a major upgrade of the mass transportation system to entice motorists to leave their cars at home. The measure of an advanced economy and progressive society is when even the wealthy and top public officials take mass transportation regularly.

Another is to move government offices and universities outside Metro Manila or to create more branches or satellite offices outside the mega city. This is ongoing but will also take several years.

Still another proposal is to modernize the railway services for both commuters and cargo to reduce the number of trucks that jam the roads leading to the Port of Manila. Hand in hand with this is the expansion of services and capacities at the Batangas and Subic container ports to decongest the Manila port.

For immediate measures, however, simply enforcing traffic rules effectively can work wonders.

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On Friday afternoon last week, for example, traffic was slow on the westbound lane near the intersection of Taft and Gil Puyat avenues.

The reason? Buses mostly of the DLTB and LLI lines had turned one lane beside the portable orange traffic barricades on the street into their terminal. Through several changes of the traffic light at the junction, the buses idled there, waiting for passengers.

Nearby, a man wearing the uniform of a Pasay traffic enforcer stood behind a pillar of the Light Rail Transit, oblivious to the mess. Either he was paid to ignore the buses, or else he was too clueless to understand that his job was to keep traffic moving smoothly.

On the same day, at the corner of Taft and Vito Cruz where a public works project is creating massive traffic gridlocks, there was not a single traffic enforcer in sight during the evening rush hour.

Such scenes are depressingly common all over the traffic-choked streets of Metro Manila. At night when MMDA traffic enforcers are no longer on duty, buses take over the southbound lane of Roxas Boulevard in front of the Redemptorist church in Baclaran, leaving only one lane for moving vehicles. The same thing happens on the road leading to the NAIA from Macapagal Boulevard, where the former Uniwide shopping complex is supposed to serve as the bus terminal.

On EDSA, the drive from the Magallanes interchange to the Ayala Avenue-McKinley Road junction can take half an hour or more. Among the causes are the buses that occupy several lanes of the road, taking their sweet time picking up passengers before they cross the intersection.

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At least three proposals have been put forward to deal with this problem. One is the gradual phase-out of the buses in favor of double-deckers, with the number of units strictly regulated. The problem is that the tall buses might hit low-lying power lines.

A second proposal is the installation of machines at designated street stops by the government and on buses by the operators. Bus doors will open only within range of the street devices, and close within a specific period. No more lingering too long or stopping anywhere to unload or pick up passengers. Under tough-talking President Duterte, this could be possible.

The biggest hurdle will be the bus operators, who want their vehicles so packed per trip that their drivers’ daily earnings depend on the number of passengers picked up. Thanks to this quota system, which is also used by jeepney operators, drivers wait forever at various points and stop even in the middle of the street to pick up passengers.

Some of the biggest transport operators belong to political clans or are well connected, and have stubbornly resisted efforts to put an end to the quota system.

Aggravating this problem is the ongoing construction of infrastructure projects in several parts of Metro Manila, around which a tiny stretch of rutted or uneven pavement can force motorists to slow down, creating traffic snarls.

This is the situation along Pioneer street in Mandaluyong, where traffic slows to a crawl along the eastbound lane because of one unpaved stretch about a meter wide. How hard is it to make this stretch smoother while public works construction is under way?

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Thinking that there are still many other things that can be done, single-car owners who drive their own vehicles are understandably up in arms against the revival of the ban on driver-only cars during rush hour along EDSA.

Some motorists may be fashioning dummies that can be propped up as passengers in the back seat. This was what some people did when traffic managers first implemented the HOV some years ago to encourage carpooling. With most private cars tinted to keep out the sun, who could tell the difference? Many private cars, especially those owned by the rich and powerful as well as felons, are so heavily tinted it’s impossible to see anyone inside.

No one will argue with the need to ease traffic gridlocks in Metro Manila, especially on EDSA. The average motorist, ready to try anything, will cooperate initially with any scheme to untangle the traffic mess.

Along with these schemes, however, authorities must not overlook basic traffic enforcement and sensible ways of keeping traffic flowing.