DOTC to launch 'Ligtas Undas'

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) led by Secretary Manuel Roxas II will launch “OPLAN: Ligtas Undas” today as part of security preparations for All Saints’ Day.

Hernando Cabrera, spokesman for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) systems, yesterday said the plan would ensure the safety, comfort and security of passengers heading to the cemeteries to pay homage to their dead during the long weekend.

Cabrera said the goal of OPLAN: Ligtas Undas is to make safe and convenient travel by public transport during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

“Among those… are the land transport such as buses and trains, air transport including the airports, and maritime transport such as in the piers and boats. This is a project of Transport Secretary Mar Roxas to ensure the safety and convenience during travel,” Cabrera told the weekly Balitaan sa Aloha Hotel in Manila yesterday.

Cabrera said weeks ago, Roxas asked them to submit plans for this project and ways to improve safety and make travel more convenient for passengers.

Under the plan, information posters will be placed in all airports, bus terminals, MRT and LRT stations, and sea ports, posting hotline numbers and where to text their concerns and complaints.

Twitter and Facebook accounts will also be open to the public, he said.

“You know our social media network is very strong now. So, the Secretary ordered the implementation of these access to be placed in the posters so that easy access could be made by the passengers, they could give suggestions and complaints regarding their travel. This is in the hope this could help in making the trips safer and more convenient,” Cabrera said.

During these holidays, the ridership goes down to as low as 50 percent, Cabrera said.

Cabrera also said that the number of trains in the LRT Line 1 and Line 2 and MRT 3 would be reduced starting Oct. 30 until Nov. 1 in anticipation of the significant decline in the number of commuters.

He said the trains to ferry passengers at LRT Line 1 and Line 2 will be lowered from 32 trains to 25. MRT 3 trains will be cut from 20 to 11.

The decrease in the number of trains, he said, was based on LRTA Readership/Traffic Data for the last five years, from 2006 to 2010.

“It is not economically feasible if we will have all our trains for the LRT and MRT running on its regular number during the four-day vacation period. The trains in our stations will undergo the regular maintenance job,” Cabrera said.

He said LRT Line 1 and Line 2 and the MRT has an average of 1.3 million riders per pay.

With the people going home to their respective provinces in observance of All Saints’ Day, he said they expect a 50 percent decrease.

But Cabrera said there was an increase in the R. Papa Station (LRT Line1), which has a regular 6,000 riders daily. He said the increase was due to its accessibility to the Chinese Cemetery and La Loma Cemetery.

In 2010, the average number of riders in R. Papa was listed at 6,267, but it went up to 6,363 or a 1.53 percent increase on Oct. 31; 11,154 or 77.96 percent increase in Nov. 1, and 6,985 or 11.46 percent hike in Nov. 2.

In the case of MRT 3, last year’s daily average count of passengers was pegged at 423,381 but it decreased by 184,139 or 43.49 percent on Nov. 1, 2010.

The identified critical stations of MRT are near Taft Avenue, Cubao, near the South Cemetery and in Guadalupe, Makati City.

He said during the four-day period, LRT Line 1 and 2 will start operations at 5 a.m. Line 1 will end at 9 p.m. and Line 2 at 9:30 p.m.

On the other hand, MRT operations will begin at 5:30 a.m. while the last train from North Avenue will leave at 9:30 p.m. and the last train from Taft Avenue at 10 p.m.

Cabrera said LRTA would deploy additional security personnel to ensure the safety and convenience of the riding public.

“But there is no exception to the heightened alert due to the bombings,” Cabrera stressed.

Cabrera warned commuters not to bring paints, varnish, cleansing agents and sharp objects that are usually used for cleaning tombs at the cemeteries.

Expressways

The Tollways Management Corp. (TMC) is also bracing for increased traffic volume along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) starting Friday.

Benigno Valles, TMC senior manager for corporate communications, said they expect at least 10 percent increase in northbound traffic volume along the NLEX starting Friday afternoon.

The volume may further increase by 15 to 20 percent by Sunday as the country observes All Saints’ Day on Tuesday.

“Traditionally, northbound motorists go home on Friday afternoon, because they go on half day at work for long weekend,” Valles said.

He said the average daily traffic volume along the NLEX is 155,000 and they are expecting it to increase to 175,000 or more.

The same volume of vehicles is expected to pass through the NLEX starting Monday afternoon until Wednesday as workers return to work after the long weekend.

For this, TMC will deploy 350 tellers including 35 new seasonal tellers, some of whom will be deployed as ambulant tellers on major interchanges and toll plazas.

The TMC also advised motorists on NLEX to plan their travel ahead of time, and prepare their vehicles for the trip.

“It’s better to make plans and know alternate toll plazas to enter or exit the NLEX,” said Kiko Dagohoy, TMC media relations specialist.

Dagohoy also reminded motorists to check the running condition of their vehicles.

Dagohoy added they would also increase number of patrol vehicles along the expressway to assist motorists.

“We also have an automatic vehicle locator system (AVL) that we will utilize in assisting motorists,” he said, referring to a network of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed along the expressway that helps in identifying motorists in distress and clogged areas due to accidents.

Airports

Vicente Guerzon, assistant general manager for security and enforcement of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), also said they are projecting the high influx of passengers going to the provinces during the holidays.

Guerzon said Roxas cited points where the influx of passengers departing Metro Manila for the provinces reaches critical mass. This includes land, air, sea and railways.

Guerzon said during the planning conference with Roxas, they checked on the points of destinations, the ports where there are problems, bus stations, and the national railway stations where there is a big influx of passengers.

He said they also checked the particular dates based on a five-year period to anticipate trends.

Guerzon said they considered how they would be able to improve and what they have done last year compared to this year’s operation, in the context of visibility and assistance.

In the issue of security and safety of airports, Guerzon said they also checked on traffic in the major roads leading to the airports.

“We have coordinated with the MMDA to manage and ease out the traffic here. In the airports, we also checked the aircraft movement. We also saw during the last five years the peak of arrivals and peak of departures. The preparation here is not only during the All Saints’ Day. We also have preparation for the arrivals of the passengers after the holidays,” Guerzon said.

He said additional security would be placed in the checkpoints at the airports during these times.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), the Airport Police Department (APD) and security guards will man the checkpoints. At the same time, Guerzon said they will have K-9 units deployed at the airports.

One of the problems in MIAA is the processing. To solve the problem of queuing, they will add more security screening checkpoints, he said.

Guerzon said they also suspended or cancelled all leaves of personnel in the x-ray areas and the security checkpoints during the coming holidays.

They also have ready reserved processing security teams who will help at the checkpoints.

“We will also open more check-in counters to speed up the processing of passengers,” he said.

Within the airport terminals, he said they would establish “one-stop help desks,” for visibility assistance, composed of the APD and PNP personnel for security who help in the complaints of the passengers.

They will also have public assistance personnel who will put up help desks to provide information to passengers, and medical personnel for immediate medical assistance if needed.

There will also be desks for terminal operations to give information on status of flights. If flights are delayed or cancelled, the influx of passengers in the airport terminals increases, he said.

“So far we have been doing these during the previous years, but we will just improve it some more, so we will have a convenient, comfortable, and secure airport,” Guerzon said. – With Dino Balabo