The Metro Manila Development Authority is receiving numerous proposals and suggestions to solve the worsening traffic situation in the metropolis that has caused billions of pesos in revenue losses.
MMDA chairman Danilo Lim revealed this following a recent meeting with members of the Metro Manila Council, the agency’s governing board and policy-making body composed of the 17 mayors and other local government officials in the National Capital Region.
Lim said one of the proposed traffic measures from various groups and individuals was a coding system based on car brands.
“There are too many suggestions and you can just imagine,” said Lim.
A retired overseas Filipino worker was the first one who proposed the car brand traffic scheme, as reported by GMA News in 2015.
Based on the proposal, a vehicle, depending on its brand, will not be allowed on the road for one day, as follows: Monday–Toyota; Tuesday–Mitsubishi; Wednesday–Honda; Thursday–Nissan, Isuzu; Friday –Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru; Saturday–American, European, Korean, and Chinese cars; Sunday–Free for all.
Vehicles that would not be included in the “brand coding” scheme are public utility jeepneys and buses, tourist buses, light and heavy vehicles, locally made “owner-type” jeepneys, and school service vehicles.
But Thomas Orbos, MMDA general manager and concurrent Inter-Agency Council on Traffic chief, is not in favor of the scheme.
Emerson Carlos, a lawyer and former MMDA chairman, also said the proposed system “still won’t be enough to lessen traffic, since the number of cars per brand on the road isn’t the same and the number coding system is still in place.”
Carlos, however, said the increasing number of vehicles is the main cause of traffic in Metro Manila—despite the existing number coding scheme, or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program, being imposed by the agency every day, except during weekend and regular holidays.
Under the number coding scheme, vehicles are banned from major roads from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. depending on the last digit of their license plates.
Lim seconded Carlos, saying more than 270,000 vehicles were registered in Metro Manila alone in 2016.
He said all the proposals made were presented to the MMC, but some of them were not discussed, while others are being considered, like the carpooling or ride sharing scheme.
“We are considering the combination of carpooling and (number) coding. Combination because there is an incentive,” said Lim, referring to the exemption of the vehicle from the number coding if the rider driving his or her car with at least two companions.
Many in the agency believe that a carpooling system would reduce vehicles on the road. They said at least 323,000 vehicles are plying Epifanio de los Santos Avenue a day, and at least half of those have only one passenger.
MMDA officials also said the system also trains kinship among the community, as passengers would share the costs for filling up the car and the toll fees. With the continuing toll and gas fee hikes, carpooling might be a way to reduce traffic along Edsa, and possibly along the Philippines’ most congested thoroughfares and highways.
During the time of chairman Francis Tolentino, the MMDA came up with a mobile application allowing carpooling among friends on social media or people living within the same area and going to a common destination.
The “Friend Trip” app allowed Facebook users and those living within the same street, village, subdivision or compound to travel via as a group. The project aimed to help ease traffic congestion and curb pollution in Metro Manila.
The Friend Trip application only recognizes one’s Facebook friends so that he or she never has to ride with strangers. It gives an option to users to have the MMDA record all their trips.