Bishop asks pols: Prioritize mass transpo to solve horrendous Metro traffic

WORSE YET TO COME. Rush hour sees traffic almost at a standstill along Edsa near Guadalupe, Makati City. But Metro Manila residents are expecting even worse traffic nightmares as construction of the Skyway Stage 3 project starts this week, with completion seen in four years. LEO M. SABANGAN II

A Catholic bishop urged politicians to prioritize the implementation of an efficient mass transport system to solve the worsening traffic problem which hounds Metro Manila.

In an interview with Radyo Veritas on Wednesday, Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said that an efficient mass transportation will be able to transfer more people with ease.

“Ang panawagan natin unang–una ay madaliin at bigyan ng priority yung ating mass transportation para marami pa ang makabiyahe ng mabuti at maging reliable pa sa general public. Pangalawa, gawan ng taimtim na research at pag–aaral ang paggamit ng private vehicles kung saan ma-limit ang pagkakaroon ng maraming sasakyan at the same time sa kalye ng Metro Manila,” Bagaforo said.

(First of all, we ask that they expedite and prioritize our mass transportation so that more people can travel well and so that it becomes more reliable to the general public. Second, conduct serious research and studies on the use of private vehicles and limiting the instances where there are too many vehicles at the same time in Metro Manila.)

The prelate issued the statement in response to the results of the first Global Driver Satisfaction Index (GDSI) by community-based traffic and navigation app Waze which revealed that Metro Manila has the worst city traffic in the world.

Bagaforo also expressed alarm that an estimated P3.5 billion is wasted due to the metro’s horrendous traffic.

He added that aside from pushing for mass transportation, political will to implement traffic rules should also be enforced.

“Malaking problema talaga ang trapik sa Metro Manila at very adverse at very difficult problem because ang kinakailangan talaga ay political will at kailangan ng condition to implement a good traffic system in Metro Manila,” the bishop said.

(Traffic is really a huge, adverse, and difficult problem in Metro Manila because what is needed is political will and the right conditions to implement a good traffic system in Metro Manila.)

The study also showed that the average commute time in Metro Manila lasted up to 45.5 minutes, the longest if compared to 18 other metro cities such as London, New York and Jakarta.

The GDSI derived its results from Waze’s eval­u­a­tion of the driv­ing ex­pe­ri­ences of its 50 mil­lion users in 32 coun­tries and 167 metro ar­eas. –Aries Joseph Hegina, JE