Manila to be uninhabitable in 4 years if traffic chaos not resolved

[niky]

Great article, thanks for the link. We need more resources like this, as opposed to useless forumers who post nothing but blind fanaticism for their presidential bet without providing any clear details on how their messianic candidate can solve the systematic problems of the country.

That is some super-dense stuff!

Have not read the whole thing... but interesting that it partially ties into the Aquino and Arroyo administrations not wanting to enter into the same kind of "deal-with-the-devil" agreements so common under FVR. Some would say the current admin is overly cautious... but then, reform doesn't happen overnight, right?

[anonemus]



Carmageddon

Posted on Monday Feb 15th at 5:00am

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco

It was reported last week that local car and truck sales are up 27.6 percent in January. Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) show January auto sales increased 27.6 percent year-on-year to 23,808 units.

There was strong take-up across all vehicle categories. Passenger car sales rose 20 percent to 8,632 units, while commercial vehicles grew 32 percent to 15,176 units. Notably, CAMPI and TMA reported a 188 percent increase in heavy-duty trucks and buses segments used for construction in the metropolis.

The industry is aiming for vehicle sales of 350,000 units (+21.3 percent) by end-2016 from 288,609 last year. Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) retained market leadership with 39.2 percent share, while Mitsubishi Motor Philippines (MMP) came in at 20.4 percent. TMP is looking at a 10 percent growth car sales this year while MMP is targeting a 25 percent increase to 67,800 units.

I don’t know about you, but I am getting visions of even worse traffic jams with this strong sales performance of the local car industry. I don’t think government can roll out any mitigation measure soon enough to make our lives on the road bearable.

For one thing, the obvious solution is a vastly improved mass transit system and that takes a lot of time to put in place. The private sector led LRT 1 should be on its way soon with the consortium announcing definite plans to improve the ride experience.

But I am sure DOTC is not up to the challenge, beyond band aid approaches like the P2P bus services. Then again, we should be grateful for these small gestures even if these are too little to respond effectively to our problem and rolled out too late.

We have been raising the alarm bells on our increasingly dysfunctional mass transit system, notably MRT 3, to no avail. The leadership minimized the problem or maybe was just too inept to do anything useful.

P-Noy and Mar Roxas think the traffic jams are visible indicators of prosperity, and they said so. The DOTC Secretary, on the other hand, said traffic jams are not fatal.

Indeed, our Great Leader and aspiring Great Leader seem to think we owe them a debt of gratitude for supposedly boosting our economy to the point of standstill on EDSA and C5. It now takes at least a couple of hours to move from one business center to another.

Only a good mass transit system can move people efficiently. Most civilized cities in the world have one, or at least one that is better than ours.

If we are lucky to elect a president who is determined to do something, it will still take a whole term of six years to see results. That was why I was so frantic when I pointed out to Mar that he doesn’t have all the time in the world to re-study what had been studied by JICA and other experts.

In the absence of a good mass transit system, it is difficult for government to do anything else other than the number coding scheme. But this scheme has only resulted in more car sales as those who can afford buy an extra two or three cars. In my subdivision, there are now more cars parked on the streets because residents do not have enough garage space.

Many international cities impose a congestion charge on cars going into the business districts during rush hours. But even a congestion charge requires a good alternative to be fair. Singapore and London can do it because they have a very good subway system.

Our only hope in the short to mid-term is technology. Tele-commuting could be resorted to if companies are ready to allow some of their workers to work from home via the Internet. But that requires a civilized broadband service and we suck in that area too.

The other tech solution is Uber or similar service. Uber recently announced a new service that pools passengers. That may be good for the home to office to home routine.

The only business sector happy with the situation are the condo developers. One of the bigger developers told me they are now getting good demand from office workers who want to live within a good walking distance or a short ride to their places of work. They buy a one bedroom or even a studio unit the size of a birdhouse. They go home on weekends.

We are a resilient people. When we are abused by our leaders, we adjust and adapt to the situation.

In reality, we have a problem bigger than our daily EDSA carmageddon. The problem betrays the lack of planning in Metro Manila so that long commutes from home to office or school are now standard. But how long will our patience last?

Junket

*The only ones who benefit from our transport problems are government officials. Some folks at DOTC get junkets to South Korea, Japan and China courtesy of eager suppliers.

Last week, two congressmen went on a junket to London supposedly to attend a meeting with the objective of helping us improve our transport situation. They skipped the meetings and went straight to sightseeing.

The two LP congressmen were supposed to attend a briefing from representatives of TFL, or Transport For London supposedly to learn best practices and help solve, if not minimize the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila.

Both solons are ranking leaders of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development that also covers transport management and urban planning. Traffic is under their domain.

For background, TFL is a local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in greater London. Headed by the London mayor, TFL oversees the operations of tube or underground trains, buses, taxis and even river services. We probably need something like it, not DOTC.

*My source told me the two gentlemen, representing Metro Manila districts, did not attend what could have been a beneficial briefing to help find ways to solve our traffic mess. One congressman said he was not aware of such a meeting.

But if they are on official business, their official schedules should have been known even before they left Manila. Their trip must have gone through the regular protocol involving the committee secretary of the lower house, the Philippine Embassy in London and TFL. No way can they claim they were kept in the dark.*Such a shame!

What is more disgusting… the gentlemen, one of them brought his wife along, opted to join a promo London tour to visit UK’s famous tourist spots, Stonehenge and Bath on the same day the TFL briefing was held.

There is nothing wrong with sightseeing or a shopping spree. But they should have had the decency to fulfill an official obligation first because they are spending taxpayers’ money for that trip and it makes the country look bad to the hosts.*COA should disallow the expenses of the congressmen if they try to liquidate advances I am sure they took.

That’s why our transport system is so rotten. Our officials spend more time on junkets than working to alleviate the sufferings of our commuters.

*