Driving 800 meter distance in one hour

Few days ago, I attended a kind of a class reunion at an Ayala mall restaurant less than one kilometer from my humble home. Estrella del Mar, my 1967 high school classmate, fetched me at about 11:10 A.M. but it was 12:05 P.M. when we arrived at the restaurant where we met former classmate Nimfa Rabor-Albano, the genial lady host, her generous husband, and eight other members of Class ‘67 with our English teacher, Mrs. Lolita Lapinid. That was an unbelievably long period of travel time because 25 years ago, I would spend only about three to five minutes of relaxed and lazy driving from home to Ayala. Why so long? Why almost one hour on the same less than one kilometer stretch? What reasons could there be?

The first answer should be the volume of traffic. It must the incredible number of road users presently travelling along F. Cabahug St. and in other Cebu City (or Metro Cebu) streets that caused my almost one-hour trip. There must be more vehicles running presently on the same road spaces than in decades ago. Traffic flow must have obviously been moving comparatively much slower today than in past years because there are just too many cars on the same unwidened roads.

Let us consider what I got from the internet. A reported Japan International Cooperation Agency data showed that there were overall registered 97,030 private motor vehicles as of 1993 in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu. That was the total accumulated number of vehicular units recorded by the Land Transportation Office for all the years, ending in December 1993. But, 30 years later and in only in the year 2023 alone, there were 42,000 new private vehicle registrations in Cebu City. The number of registered vehicles in one year, 2023, was almost one half of the recorded running units since time immemorial.

I do recall that in a Cebu City Council session sometime in 1991, information was provided that there were almost 800 taxi cabs operating in our city. We were then deliberating on a measure that came to be the Revised Cebu City Road Ordinance. That number of taxis was sufficient to serve our population then. But, I was rather unprepared to know the current statistical figures. There are now approximately 6,000 to 6,200 registered taxi units operating across Metro Cebu, which includes Cebu City. Eight-hundred units in 1991-1992 to 6,200 cabs in 2026? That is a whopping 675% growth in taxi units from 1991-2026!

The second probable reason is the failure of city administrations to implement road infra structure projects. When Eduardo R. Gullas was Cebu provincial governor and Ronald Duterte was Cebu City mayor (may their souls rest in peace) they collaborated in a road-building program. After a lengthy project gestation period, it was implemented when Tomas R. Osmeña became mayor. I remember the project to include the opening and widening of Imus St., in Barangay Day-as and V. Rama Ave. in Barangays Calamba and Guadalupe. If my memory serves me right, the project also included that one that connects San Jose de la Montana Ave. bounding Barangays Mabolo, Luz and Kasambagan, and Salinas Drive in Barangay Lahug. Of course, F. Cabahug St., alongst where I live.

The last road improvement project was done in 1992, more than 30 years ago. Mathematically then, while the number of visible vehicles in 1993 multiplied eight times and the taxi cabs grew 675% in 2023, not one square kilometer avenue was opened or widened since then until now except the ongoing Talamban-Pit-os stretch!

That is why it took me almost one hour to cover a driving distance of less than one kilometer!