‘U-turns, not truck policy, causing Katipunan jams’

Contrary to the pronouncement of the Metroplitan Manila Development Authority pinning the blame on traffic jams on the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)’s ‘no apprehension’ policy for colorum trucks, the police officer in charge of the Quezon City thoroughfare said the MMDA actually shared part of the blame. Traffic jams on Katipunan Avenue have been occurring over the past days.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Traffic Sector 3 head Chief Insp. Erlito Trinidad Renegin said that while traffic jams had been a perennial problem on the national road, it got worse due to MMDA measures such as the opening of U-turn slots and the ban on trucks along Edsa.

“When I was assigned to the Quezon City police in 1997, Katipunan was still wide open. It became congested only when it started serving as an alternative route for trucks banned from plying Edsa,” Renegin told the Inquirer on Tuesday.

Renegin also blamed the U-turn slots that had been opened on Katipunan “since the time of [MMDA] Chair Bayani Fernando” and now force vehicles to take “up to two lanes” just to make a turn.

Commuter jeepney drivers who disregard the proper loading or unloading bays on Katipunan add to the problem, he said.

Earlier, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said the number of trucks taking Katipunan increased by more than 80 percent from last year’s figures due to the “nonapprehension policy” being implemented by the LTFRB for trucks yet to comply with its franchising requirements.

But Renegin disputed this: “I don’t see any change in traffic on Katipunan (because of the LTFRB policy).” He pointed out that the policy only applied to colorum or unregistered trucks for hire, not to trucks violating the MMDA truck ban and other traffic regulations.

“The truck ban is still in effect (here). The trucks still come out all at the same time and use the same routes,” Renegin said. “If they have traffic violations, we still apprehend them.”

As EDSA is also routinely clogged, it only means that new routes and roads are badly needed.

With report by Jaymee T. Gamil