EDITORIAL - What’s the alternative?

Since 2010, the Aquino administration has been considering a number-coding scheme to reduce the number of vehicles in the traffic-choked streets of Metro Manila. The scheme would allow vehicles, based on the last number in license plates, to ply the streets only three times a week or on alternative weeks depending on whether the end number is odd or even.

If implemented, the proposal will automatically cut by half the number of vehicles in the streets of Metro Manila. But the proposal generated a loud public outcry in 2010, and it is generating the same protests now, after President Aquino said the scheme may be revived as a drastic measure to untangle the capital region’s worsening traffic jams.

The reason for the opposition back then remains the same: there is no efficient mass transportation alternative to private vehicles. Public utility vehicles are uncomfortable, open to pollution and notoriously slow. Since the Metro Manila Development Authority floated the odd-even scheme in October 2010, the Aquino administration has not cracked down on bus and jeepney operators imposing a system that effectively makes drivers’ earnings for the day dependent on the number of passengers they can pack into their vehicles per trip. This system is the biggest reason for the long waits for passengers at every stop by buses and jeepneys.

In many countries, efficient light railway and commuter train services encourage people to take mass transportation. In our country, the government has failed to upgrade the glitch-prone light railway services. Daang matuwid has also been accused of an extortion attempt and of awarding a $150-million sweetheart deal to a consortium linked to a relative of the sacked Metro Rail Transit general manager.

The mayors of Metro Manila, all independent republics, cannot work with the unelected MMDA chairman in a task that requires close coordination among local government units. Since Thursday, members of the Iglesia ni Cristo have caused monstrous gridlocks in Manila as they protest a criminal investigation being conducted by the Department of Justice against some of their leaders, with the traffic problem spilling over to neighboring cities. But city officials have given the religious group a permit to occupy any street as long as they want – in this case until next Friday.

President Aquino, left with only stopgap solutions as his six-year term draws to a close, is pondering the odd-even scheme. He is surely aware that without a viable mass transport alternative, people will simply buy more cars if the scheme is implemented, putting even more vehicles on the road. He must also be aware that there is such a thing as efficient traffic management – but this is lacking in Metro Manila.