City in gridlock
EVERYONE KNEW how traffic held the city in a standstill on Monday, August 4. If one did not suffer the long hours going nowhere, everyone knew someone who did.
It was social media that had people exchanging notes on how long they had been stalled in different areas of the metropolis. Someone we know spent five, yes, five hours on the road without ever getting to work. Eventually, he decided it was a futile attempt, and when he could, took a turn that allowed him to make his way back home. We don’t know how much time that homestretch took.
Those using the public transportation waited in vain at their usual bus stops, the MRT and LRT stations. We do not have to review the obvious and count the waste and loss and the levels of threat and danger raised in these situations.
This is not the first time this has happened. Flooding and rain have slowed traffic to a crawl when some commuters spent up to five hours on the road. This time, the cause was an eight-vehicle pile-up on C-5, forcing most commuters to a grinding crawl on EDSA.
The problem of traffic has become such a daily trial that people have stopped complaining about it. And traffic woes are no longer news.
On the good days, travel to and from work in Metro Manila takes an average of three hours, for distances that should take only a third of that time. Unfortunately, we have become so used to the loss of time, the fatigue and hardship as a permanent feature of our lives that no one seems to be looking for solutions anymore.
But not finding one will surely involve bigger problems in the long term. Given its part, and considering how big the media industry has become, the press has yet to find the hook on which to construct coverage that might help surface strategies and solutions.
On the same day of the gridlock, Manila correspondent for The New York Times landed his story on the front page of the international edition of the paper. The article reported on the “handicap that inhibits growth in the Philippines”. . .”one of the fastest growing economies in Asia in recent years.” But the country’s “crumbling infrastructure” will hold back growth to the next level.”
In the current pace of regional competition, not moving to that next level will mean losing out on foreign investments which will go to other countries in the region where infrastructure will not hamper economic activities. The article cited views that reflected the difficult state of transport, energy and communication, which despite improvements have simply not kept up with the demand.
So the long term may look bleak, even as the article also reported that the Aquino administration has identified “57 projects, including a natural gas pipeline, airport improvements around the country, highways in Manila and surrounding areas, and upgrades to the capital city’s commuter systems.” While there are ongoing roadway projects, none of the 57 have yet broken ground.
Indeed, the improvements that have been undertaken will seem completely overwhelmed by growth itself and the continuing rise of PH population.
Obviously, past leaders must bear the blame, especially those who held power for more years than others. I cannot help but note that some quarters will not hear anything said of the failures of the past administrations, saying, let’s move on.
But infrastructure development takes time, and those who stayed longest in office must be judged for their lack of vision and their limited notion of public service. Marcos who held power for almost two decades did not apply his massive powers to modernize Manila’s infrastructure, unlike his counterparts who ruled at the same time in Singapore and Malaysia. Arroyo also has relatively little to show for the nine years she was in power.
On television, a radio program host gave suggestions as they noted reports on the traffic in the city. More traffic enforcers. Not requiring police reports on accidents, before moving on or clearing the collision area. I’d like to add the need for a more rational bus system which the private bus companies seem to successfully resist. Or even the non-entry of provincial buses into the city. It would seem that traffic pains of the city should call for all those having to do with traffic management, both private and public agencies, to talk about the problem in the long term. Strangely enough, the mainstream press has been relatively quiet about this issue. Perhaps, because traffic just doesn’t make it as news.
While tracking corruption in relevant agencies that have to do with roads and transport licenses, media can’t seem to find the hook with which to sustain inquiry and investigation on various aspects of the traffic problem as an integrated problem and one that has huge impact on our collective prospects for development.
It has taken the NYT to take the broad view of the issue, noting the failure of infrastructure development, its impact on traffic and commuters from all walks of life.
On the day after the gridlock, Manila newspapers did not give the story prominence. The Bulletin gave the “Monday Blues” a photo-caption on the front page. The PDI reported the vehicular accident and its impact on the traffic on the first page of its city section. The treatment did not rise beyond the episodic account, with a view that did not reflect on any other issues relevant to the experience.
The Philippine media should play a role in keeping the infrastructure issues front and back of coverage and in all media formats. It should keep alive the search for workable short term solutions that will help with our traffic problems.
More important, media need to develop the approach to news and information that would be more attuned to long-term needs, an orientation that goes beyond just current events.
It would be a new kind of journalism, posing a challenge that Filipino journalists should be ready to take on.
Construction is one, but planning and maintenance are two close family members that are always absent. New (expensive) extra concrete lanes but electricity poles in the middle or zebra crossings leading to a fence on the curbstone. Where was the planning? New (expensive) extra concrete lanes but used as parking or as an extensions for repair shops, sidewalk overgrown with tough grass. Who enforces / maintains?
Somebody should start a blunder book of DPWH. Pork and corruption are expensive, but the cost of blunders may be equally high.