Decongesting Metro Manila traffic

AContinued from June 5

- crimination measures – coding, odd even, no window, etc. (varying as to the degree of restriction) – is

the crowded central business districts and main arte-

the operative one is the so-called coding from 07002000 hrs. The now suspended “window”, an easing of the coding ban introduced by Bayani Fernando in 2008 to allow full access to all vehicles between 0900 and 1600hrs, remains in effect in a few areas.

Most effective, if sustained, is the policing of urban clearways (feeder roads and alternate routes) or “Mabuhay Lanes” as tow-away zones. Nothing restricts road space more when there are so many violators of no-parking ordinances. In fact, this is more important than any proposed no-garage-noregistration law. Unrelenting clearance of vendors, illegal stalls, illegal terminals, illegal parking and obstructions is a must. The clearances on BaclaranRedemptorist road and Balintawak market showed

duty if some tow-away zones are not policed for illegal parking.

a snail’s pace, which leads us to this proposal: What the metro needs is immediate implementation of staggered working hours, which should redistribute

- gered hours are on top the standard 0900-1700 work

so that employees who cannot telecommute (work

the following schedules – 0700-1600 hrs, 1100–2000 hrs and 1500 to 0100 of the following day. I know of

adapted this since 2003, which was about the same time that President Arroyo decreed the adoption of such working hours along with novel solutions like a four-day week and automatic long weekends embracing either the Monday orFriday closest to the work-free national holiday. work, support services like can-

common area lights, air- conditioning and even pedestrian access like the underground crossings and foot bridges found in the Ayala CBD should remain open, secure and well-lit. Sometime ago, when outsourcing companies started spreading in Salcedo Village, the area billed itself as 24- hour work place. Unfortunately the pedestrian subways were locked by early evening and the “Jollijeeps” were also gone by then too. Worse, some pay parking lots were locked up by mid-evening. All these ancillary support services must stay open to make any staggered hours work program succeed.

We are aware that MMDA GM Tim Orbos wanted to bring down the overcapacity on EDSA and other arterial roads to 6,500 vehicles per hour from 7,500 for the 13 hours of a working day, hence the insistence on not reintroducing the “window”. Orbos, however, is also sensitive to the plight of consumers who, for those who could, have been forced to buy an extra car

methods like former Chairman Francis Tolentino’s two-consecutive-day ban and the most severe oddeven will meet with valid public resistance, but with

At a theoretical 50-percent reduction, odd-even will

coding achieved as per a UP study quoted by DoTr career technocrat and Undersecretary Anneli Lontok. But in order not to impair the workings of the metro economy and trigger a subsequent backlash from the private motorist, we propose the following:

• An odd-even ban based on calendar date; i.e. cars with odd-numbered plates will be free to travel on odd dates but banned on even dates and vice versa.

• Ban hours to start at 0700 and end at 0900. A variant could be 0800-1000 hrs or 0700-1000 hrs, depending on how overloaded EDSA is from its max.

• At the end of the morning odd-even ban, be

it at 0900 or 1000, all vehicles can use metro streets at the start of the “window”. Re-imposing the window is the best disincentive for the middle class not to invest in another car, but this can only work with

• An evening ban starting at 1700 and ending at 2000. The MMDA can also adjust this to 16001900hrs, depending how overloaded EDSA gets at the evening peak hour.

• Taguig, Markina, Valenzuela and all municipalities that do not have a coding ban may continue without an odd-even ban.

• Mandaluyong, Makati and municipalities that do not allow a window between the morning and evening ban will be required to change their coding ordinances to align with the rest of the metro.

• A park and ride exempt access zone similar to the coding-free roads leading to NAIA should be imposed if Mandaluyong and Makati cannot accommodate the window. This means that all access routes from main roads like EDSA, Buendia, SLEx, Shaw Blvd., Boni, etc. to major pay parking buildings like Megamall, Vista’s Starmall, EDSA Shangri-la Mall, EDSA-Central, Robinson’s Place Guadalupe, Ayala CBD GloriettaGreenbelt bounded by Ayala Ave., Apartment Ridge, Arnaiz, Paseo de Roxas, Makati Ave. and Makati Cinema Square bounded by Arnaiz, Pasong Tamo and SLEx must be exempt from odd-even ban during the window hours. This will allow private car motorists to park in paid and safe areas in order to transfer to

Exemptions from the odd-even ban:

• Legally-franchised buses;

• tourist buses;

• jeepneys on authorized routes;

• High occupancy vehicles, car pooling with a minimum two passengers besides the driver, provided such vehicles do not have heavy front windshield tint

in-car passengers;

• UV Express;

• schoolbus service;

• taxis and TNVs like Grab that carry a minimum of two passengers besides the driver; call, diplomatic and consular corps, and clearly identi- have daily overlapping five- or six- hour shifts from 0600 up to 0200 hrs of the succeeding day to prevent fatigue. At any one time, street duty on our polluted streets should not exceed two hours without a break.

They should also ensure a full complement of traf-

enforcers are not only there to arrest violators of the

If this odd- even scheme succeeds, the park and ride exempt access can be applied to the upcoming intermodal bus South Terminal by Uniwide, South West Terminal by ARCO South, North Terminal by Trinoma and the East Terminal wherever this will be built. The MMDA can even apply congestion charging to the odd- even ban hours in the event the authorities decide to follow Singapore’s ERP ( electronic road pricing), albeit in a more simpler way: one price for an entry all- day ( 0700- 2000 hrs) access pass like E- PASS -- P100 for days when your plate number is not banned, P200 when your plate number is banned. Again, Senator Grace Poe is wary of getting into ERP until the existing rail network capacity has been beefed up and made truly reliable.

We hope that all this will prove useful as we look forward to the commissioning of the Skyway Stage 3, the NLEx metro-link connector, NLEx Mindanao Ave. extension and the C-5 CAVITEx link along with improved MRT-3 capacities. Further along, we would like to see completion of the C-6 Metro Manila expressway, MRT-7, the initial phased opening of the Metro Manila Subway and ultimately all those 13 or

Harbor to the Napindan channel in the east.