This time, it's 'passenger'-coding

Battered from all sides by a public increasingly frustrated with its inability to solve the monstrous traffic jams along the city's major thoroughfares, particularly EDSA, the government appears to be at wit's end on how to deal with the situation.

      

It appears that the Cabinet had been deliberating on the revival of the previous "number-coding" system where vehicles with license plates ending in odd or even numbers would be banned from the roads three times a week. This "radical" proposal would have effectively prevented motorists from using their vehicles three times a week, in contrast to the current scheme where they are banned  from taking to the streets for only a day each week. With the proposed scheme getting flak from observers in both mainstream and social media, Malacañang has not mentioned it at all in subsequent pronouncements on the traffic problem.

      

But that does not mean that the government is simply letting the present chaotic situation go unresolved.

      

The Public Works department has indicated the government is seriously considering the proposal to prohibit vehicles with less than three passengers from plying EDSA during peak hours, from 7 to 10 in the morning at 5 to 8 in the afternoon.

       

However, before this plan can be implemented, the concerned government agencies should be able to identify and open alternate routes that can be used by vehicles with less than three passengers.

      

The problem is that there are obstructions in many alternative routes, such as  parked vehicles, basketball courts and unfinished flood control projects. Thus, the proposed 'passenger'-coding scheme has been opposed by vehicle owners who will be greatly inconvenienced by it.

      

We must emphasize that vehicle volume reduction should be just one component of possible short-term solutions to Metro Manila's traffic mess. The long-term solution, of course, is upgrading and expanding mass transport based on the light rail system, among others. To impose a vehicle volume reduction scheme without adequate public consultation and ensuring viable alternate routes is foolhardy and likely to cost the ruling party precious votes in an election period. –End-

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