MMDA chair proposes 2-day coding scheme to ease traffic

Car volume has been blamed as one of the main causes for the heavy traffic in Metro Manila.
EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Danilo Lim on Tuesday said he has proposed implementing a two-day coding scheme instead of the existing one-day system to lessen the volume of cars plying the roads of Metro Manila.

During the House of Representatives transportation committee hearing, Lim said the riding public should make more sacrifices by complying with a two-day coding to lessen the volume of cars in the metropolis.

Lim said there are 2.5 million to 2.6 million registered vehicles in Metro Manila, comprising 30 percent of all registered vehicles in the country.

This despite the fact that Metro Manila only covers five percent of the country’s total road network, Lim added.

“Sobrang dami talaga ng sasakyan dito sa Metro Manila… We have more than 30 percent vehicles, nagsasama sama dito sa less than five percent. So volume problema, kailangan talaga bawasan,” Lim said.

(There are really too many vehicles here in Metro Manila… We have more than 30 percent of the country’s vehicles all using the less than five percent of the national road network. The volume really is problematic, so we really need to lessen the cars.)

BACKSTORY: Up next: ‘Modified odd-even’ on Edsa

“Pinagiisipan natin with the support of the Metro Manila council mga mayors natin, kung pwedeng i-modify pa ‘yung number coding scheme… Siguro pwede namang kaunting sakripisyo pa para sa lahat. Baka pwedeng gawing two days every week ang hindi paggamit ng sasakyan,” Lim added.

(We are thinking of getting the support of the Metro Manila council, the mayors, if we could modify the number coding scheme… Maybe we could sacrifice a little for everyone, by allotting two days of not using our vehicles.)

Asked by lawmakers why road accidents continue to happen despite the passage of road safety laws, Lim said the lack of discipline and the meager pay of traffic enforcers were among the reasons for the poor implementation of road safety laws in the country.

READ: MMDA chair Danny Lim gets 2 more retired generals onboard

He added that most of the accidents happen because of reckless drivers, which calls for  road safety education among the country’s drivers.

“Kadalasan ang aksidete dahil dyan, kaskasero, walang disiplina. So back to basics, education ng drivers,” said Lim, a retired brigadier general.

(Most of the accidents happen because of reckless drivers who lack discipline. So back to basics, we educate our drivers.)

READ: Palace: Retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim set to head MMDA 

Lim added that road conditions also pose a problem, and thus called for the need to improve the country’s infrastructure.

Another reason that may have caused road accidents is the lack of auxiliary traffic enforcers who have not been receiving their meager P6,000 monthly pay, Lim said.

Lim lamented the delay in the release of these traffic enforcers’ salaries by the Department of Budget and Management, as well as the lack of traffic enforcers with the MMDA.

“Sa MMDA, kulang talaga ‘yung tao namin. Kulang na nga, ‘yung suporta pa eh, underpaid. Marami tayong traffic enforcers na P6,000 lang isang buwan, mababa na nga, nadedelay pa. Dahil budget naming only covers so many sa plantilla,” Lim said.’

(In the MMDA, we really lack people. On top of the lack of support, they are also underpaid. We have a lot of traffic enforcers who only receive P6,000 per month, which is already very low, but still delayed. Our budget can only cover so many in the plantilla.)

“These are some of the things na nakaka-aggrevate sa ating sitwasyon sa traffic at sa aksidente (that aggravate our situation on the traffic and accidents),” he added.

READ: MMDA’s Lim: Corruption root cause of traffic

Lim said many of the auxiliary traffic enforcers last received their pay way back February this year, thus dampening the morale of the enforcers.

“Marami tayong kasama d’yan na na last time na sumwledo ay nu’ng Frebruary pa, kaya nawawalan tayo ng traffic enforcer sa Edsa, for example, kasi what do you expect, hindi naman magtatrabaho ‘yan kung walang maiuuwi sa pamilya nila,” he said.

(We have a lot of companions who last received their pay in February. That’s why we are losing traffic enforcers in Edsa, for example, because what do you expect, they won’t do their jobs if they don’t bring home money to their families.) -Marc Jayson Cayabyab, IDL/rga