MANILA, Philippines -- The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will begin installing microchips on buses in an effort to improve the city's chronic traffic congestion, an official said Tuesday.
The microchips will allow the MMDA to monitor the movement of the capital's estimated 3,000 buses and dispatch them to areas where there is a large concentration of passengers, the agency’s general manager Robert Nacianceno said.
"Once the system is in place, it will be easier for us to track each one of the buses plying thoroughfares, field buses at bus stops where there's a concentration of passengers and stop empty buses or those with only a few passengers from dawdling at loading and unloading bays," he said.
The system is intended to address a major complaint of motorists that the city's traffic problems are due largely to half-filled buses waiting at the road side for passengers blocking the free flow of traffic.
It will also stop the entry of unauthorized buses which ply the streets without proper permits, the official added.