METROPOLITAN Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Danilo D. Lim intends to revive a proposal to implement a two-day number-coding scheme instead of the existing one-day coding system to solve the heavy traffic situation in the metropolis.
Lim, who was the guest at the BusinessMirror Coffee Club Forum on Thursday, said he will again propose to Metro Manila mayors the expanded number-coding scheme, a plan he earlier abandoned after receiving numerous adverse reactions. He got the idea when he attended the budget hearing in Congress on Tuesday.
“When I attended the MMDA budget hearing in Congress the other day, some of the congressmen were actually advocating that we revise our number-coding scheme,” Lim
said, adding that the congressmen specifically observed the great volume of vehicles in the major thoroughfares.
Lim said the congressmen even suggested the number-coding scheme be implemented two days or three days a week. “I told them that I have to take this up to the Metro Mayors Council [MMC]. [We at] MMDA cannot do this on our own. If they approve it, then we can have that [expanded number-coding scheme],” he said, stressing that the MMC is the policy-making body of the MMDA.
Lim floated the idea in June, but public-transport groups and motorists rejected it. “I did that to get the reaction, their sentiments, the feedback of our kababayan [countrymen]. Since then we have not talked about this in the Metro Mayors Council meeting,” Lim said.
However, Lim will bring the proposal up to the MMC again next month, “since Rep. [Danilo] Suarez [of the Third District of Quezon] brought that up, I committed to him that I will bring it up to the council meeting”.
He also appealed to the motorists to make a little sacrifice. “’We do complain [of the traffic congestion], but when we make a move to reduce the number of vehicles to ease up traffic, we don’t want to make that sacrifice.”
The MMDA chief noted that there are more than 30 percent of the country’s vehicle volume are sharing less than 5 percent of the national road network. There are around 2.6 million registered vehicles in Metro Manila.
Under the current number-coding scheme, vehicles are banned just once a week: vehicles with license plates ending in 1 and 2 are banned on Monday; those ending in 3 and 4 on Tuesday; those ending in 5 and 6 on Wednesday; those ending in 7 and 8 on Thursday; and those ending in 9 and 0 on Friday.
Christmas season
Lim is also set to meet with mall owners and operators today (September 15) to discuss traffic-mitigation measures throughout the holiday season. He said the agency will start its preparations for the expected holiday rush when traffic flow in the metropolis are expected to be heavy.
The MMDA noted that malls and similar commercial establishments are traffic generators during the holidays, so there is a need to come up with “effective and sustainable measures to provide convenience to the public”.
He said there are around 36 malls on Edsa and monstrous traffic is expected because Filipinos are flocking to shopping malls and markets. Some of the plans, he added, is to revive the designated 17 routes as Shopper’s Lane, or formerly Mabuhay Lanes, to aid motorists in avoiding heavy traffic. The Shopper’s Lane will be the alternate route to shorten the travel time of motorists by avoiding Edsa.
The MMDA official said the local government units are the ones in charge of the secondary roads where the Shopper’s Lane will be located, so they should be active in maintaining the area and clearing the obstructions.
As to the mall operators and owners, the agency plans to implement anew several traffic-alleviating schemes that the agency implemented last year, like conducting sales during weekends only from 12:01 a.m. of Saturday to 11:59 p.m. on Sunday. He added that they will ask the mall owners to have additional manpower to avoid queuing of vehicles of customers.
No-contact app
Lim also disclosed that the agency is upgrading its system on the No-Contact Apprehension Policy.
The MMDA has partnered with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to strengthen the implementation of the policy using the technology developed by De La Salle University (DLSU) students. The DOST gave the engineering students of the DLSU a P4-million grant.
A technology-based application dubbed as CATCH ALL, or Contactless Apprehension of Traffic Violators on 24-hours Basis, All Vehicle Detection System, was earlier developed by the DOST.
Under the CATCH ALL system, all types of vehicles and violations will be detected via its smart camera video capture.
The system will display the vehicle’s detection and tracking, profiling, plate localization and plate character recognition for more detailed traffic-violation identification. Lim stated that the system will be implemented in the whole stretch of Edsa for pilot testing next month.
“Edsa is the busiest major thoroughfare along the Metro, so we want to increase the mobility there with the help of the CATCH ALL technology,” the MMDA chief added.
The agency and the DOST will also put up outdoor LED screen for its 24-hour notification system with traffic violation information system, which includes car profile, plate number, violation, date and time of violation, for a more transparent apprehension.
“With the CATCH ALL technology, we can easily identify erring motorists in real time without obstruction of traffic flow, but still ensures that the violators are still being caught and penalized,” Lim stressed. The no-contact apprehension was implemented by MMDA through Metro Manila Council Resolution 16-01, Series of 2016, to apprehend moving violations, such as loading/unloading in prohibited zone, disregarding traffic sign and reckless driving, among others.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
1 comment
7 days colorcoding gives you empty streets. no more build build build