Uber to provide traffic data to DPWH

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Uber Philippines signed an agreement for the transport network company to provide data on traffic patterns that could be used to plan infrastructure in the metropolis, officials said yesterday.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said data gathering is essential for a project. Previously, a DPWH employee would use a handheld tally counter to count the number of vehicles passing a particular street at a given time, he said.

Since Uber has around 66,000 listed vehicles on the road, their drivers would be able to send accurate data on the vehicular traffic in Metro Manila, Uber Philippines country manager Laurence Cua said.

The DPWH would use this information to determine what would be the most appropriate solution to a traffic situation such as if there is a need to construct an overpass or a road interchange or simply widen a road.

“The larger the data, the more accurate the data. It would be better if we have additional data since Uber has a strong presence in Manila and in Cebu. We would be able to see the effect, more or less, of each of our projects. We would be able to compare and analyze the effects of the project in Metro Manila,” Villar said.

Throught Uber’s “Movement” website, the DPWH would have a better idea of an infrastructure project’s impact, he said.

Villar noted that before the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway was constructed, travel time from NAIA Terminal 2 to Marina Bay in Pasay City took 13 minutes and two seconds but with the expressway now operational, the trip was cut down to 12 minutes and 25 seconds.

The Movement website contains traffic data for the whole of 2016 until August 2017 and this could be accessed by the DPWH.

The hourly data from Uber can be analyzed in several ways, depending on the needs of DPWH. The agency could compare the traffic flow in a particular area such as during the morning rush hours to the afternoon rush hours; weekend traffic; and on Fridays.

With the memorandum of understanding with DPWH, Cua said they hope to help to find solutions to the “unsolvable” traffic in the metropolis since Metro Manila has often been rated to have one of the worst traffic in Asia and in the world.

Cua said that aside from DPWH, they are also not discounting the possibility of offering Uber’s data to other agencies such as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Yves Gonzalez, Uber Public Policy head, admitted that “we have been talking to MMDA and MMDA has access to the tools as well.”