Truck ban liberates city from bottlenecks

CEBU, Philippines – Traffic snarls in Mandaue City have significantly vanished thanks largely to the experimental truck ban currently in effect.

Edwin Ermac, the executive director of the Traffic Enforcement Agency Management (TEAM) told the city council yesterday that the ban in the city has emerged to be much better than the bans enforced in the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu on the basis that the ban covers all major thoroughfares.

The ban in the city starts from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and then activated again from 5:30 p.m. up to 8 p.m.

Ermac also told the council that the ban cannot be enforced on certain roads because of the risk of creating more bottlenecks.

Once the ban is fully implemented in the city, roads will be closed to four-wheeled and heavier vehicles with a gross tonnage of 4,500 from 6 to 8 am and 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Later, the council decided that the truck ban be allowed to run for a month from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30. It told Ermac to submit a report and his recommendations.

Exempted from the ban are delivery vans carrying perishable goods, food and export items, and livestock. (FREEMAN)