150k vehicles clog city roads

Low down payment offers contribute to traffic jams

DAVAO City’s congested roads may be attributed to the additional 40,000 new vehicles traversing here, said Land Transportation Office (LTO).

In a phone interview with LTO Davao Regional Director Gomer Dy, he said that as of January to November this year, there is a recorded 350,000 registered vehicles in the entire Davao Region. Out of this num- ber, around 150,000 are in Davao City.

He said this shows a 40,000 to 50,000 increase in vehicles as last year there were only around 310,000 vehicles in Davao Region, 110,000 of which are from Davao City.

Although for both last year and this year, the number of vehicles is still dominated by the number of motorcycles. About 60 percent of the vehicles in the region and in the city comprise of motorcycles.

Dy said this is because of the ease of access and acquisition of motorcycles than cars on top of its more affordable rate.

“Acquisition of motorcycles is very easy. You can even get motorcycles with P2,000 down payment. Motorcycle dealers also have their respective discounts and promos. They are going to have the motorcycle named under the buyer but the OR/CR will still be with the company or the dealer,” Dy said in vernacular.

On the sidelines of the media launch of the taxi hailing mobile app Hirna, Land

Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) chair attorney Martin Delgra III said in the city there is an estimate of more than 5,500 taxis and around 8,000 public utility jeepneys (PUJ).

But, he added the traffic congestion can actually be attributed to newly bought and registered private cars more than the public utility vehicles (PUV). He said they haven’t released new franchise permits that may cause massive number of additional PUVs in the city’s roads.

“This is part of the development happening in the city. Of course, whatever the reason is behind the traffic congestion, the government will find a solution. The people, especially those who can afford, will just buy private cars if they do not find the transport system efficient yet,” Delgra said.