Traffic Congestion In Metro Manila, The City Of The Philippines

According to National Economic and Development Authority, the traffic demand in Metro Manila is at 12.8 million trips. 69% of these total trips are done using public transport yet only 22% of the road space is occupied by public vehicles. The other 78% of road space is taken by private vehicle. Traffic is widely common in any county. However, the traffic in Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines, has escalated so much that it resulted into congestion. Congestion can be defined as overcrowding; clogging, while traffic is defined as the movement of vehicles, ships, persons(dictionary.reference.com) Some say that the causes of traffic are the following; People that are living in rural areas are more inclined to live in urban areas, therefore

The poor management of the location of businesses and firms, especially to place the majority in Metro Manila. This inexperienced city zoning of businesses and firms can also lead to traffic congestion. The main avenues of these cities and even the secondary roads are often congested, and the problems of traffic congestion has become so serious that the economy is affected in no small way. There is a reason why popular novelist Dan Brown- author of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’- mentioned Metro Manila’s monumental traffic jams in his book ‘Inferno’. He called Metro Manila the ‘Gates of Hell’(Flatplanet,2014). This indicates that the traffic congestion in Manila is really beyond normal that is even acknowledged internationally. Therefore, the Philippine government should fix the current competition in Metro Manila by decongesting by way of proper zoning of businesses and firms, for this is a feasible solution for the congestion in the

There is nothing that anyone can do to solve the traffic woes of Metro Manila, even with the ingenuity and hard work of the MMDA chairman” (Padilla,2015). Padilla reasoned out that with its current population of more than 12 million that swells to about 15 million during the daytime, Metro Manila is the undisputed primate city in the country whose close competitors such as Metro Cebu (2.5 million) or Metro Davao (2.2 million) pale in comparison in terms of population size. Now tell me, how do you manage that? The incidence of thousands of commuters and motorists spending long hours stuck in a traffic jam especially after torrential rains and consequent flooding is a given. We should not have the illusion that our existing and ongoing efforts will ameliorate our traffic problem once and for all. Our state of urban affairs is like what the legendary Yogi Berra used to quip. “It’s déjà vu all over again.” This means that with the vast amount of people that keeps on growing, traffic will never be annihilated. However, does that mean that it is better to overlook or disregard the developing traffic congestion in Manila than to attempt to solve