Manila Traffic: I Loathe Thee

Traffic is supposed to be the "the movement (as of vehicles) along a route" (Merriam-Webster dictionary). But in Manila, it means congestion, snail-paced queue through national highways, another tardy employee, some more tears and/or shrieks of impatience - from commuters, drivers and passengers, and traffic aides - and eternal honking.

Haay. The price of urbanization and bad governance. How gloriously sad that is, indeed.

I live less than 10 minutes away from my work, that is, considering only the "normal stop-go" traffic of the Makati Central Business District (CBD). Should that have exempted me from the stress of Manila's brand of traffic? Hell, no. I experience it every single waking moment of my work life, so much so that it has turned me into a traffic-loathing organism.

(I wouldn't even go into details of long helpless hours endured and breakfasts/lunches missed to be at client meetings on time or in the name of punctuality.)

A single minute could mean a "lucky" FX ride, the eleventh slot in a queue for the 10-passenger FX cab, or desperate measures to race for the very scarce taxi cab (no taxi driver wants to go to Makati in the morning).

This morning, for example, was another classic "Traffic, I loathe thee" experience.

I woke up as early as 5AM; only that, I took my sweet time to prepare my lunch, have my breakfast, finish my 30-minute bath, dally on some makeup (though I was almost barefaced actually), and changed my shirt at the last minute. So I was out of my house by 7:45 AM. Aah, and that would be an unlucky time in my world of "Manila traffic superstition" (7:30 AM may be forgivable, but 7:45 is way BaAaD).

Well, the femme gut-feel was right. I crossed the street (this is another death-defying challenge which I face every morning) to the FX "temporary" loading station [temporary because (1) there is no real agreement between FX cab drivers and the FX cab "barkers" - the guys calling trying their best to put some semblance of order in the queuing of cabs and would-be passengers; only by the barkers' charm, coercion or a mixture of both would these FX cab drivers heed the barkers' call, and (2) this station is only good during the weekday morning rush].

Voila! There was sign #1 -- a long queue of FX-hopefuls (both for FX-Ayala and FX-Landmark).

Then, to my left was sign#2 - the disarray of impatient "cannot-just-line-up" commuters-to-be scattered along the Kalayaan highway's sidewalk. These people are taking their chances on possible one or two seats in a passing FX cab.

So which group did I join?

I joined sign#2's group first, since most of my 'lucky' days allowed me to catch the 'lucky' seat in about 15 minutes - as long as you're ready to fight elbow-to-elbow with everyone else (no sore losers allowed here; save the stiletto high heels for the office).

After more than 20 minutes, I got bored (and apathetic) - I was thinking "Did I step out at the wrong hour? Or is this just one of those hell-days?"

I went to sign#1's group and was 9th on the queue for FX-Ayala (not bad). After some 15 minutes more, the FX miracle came and I was finally cruising, albeit with tortoise-on-land pace, through EDSA. I reached the office after an excruciating 40 minutes. That's more than one hour (75 minutes total) of hopeful queuing and slow-mo cruising.

When I was much younger, I would have cursed and paced to no end. But after probably 6-7 years of enduring this Manila traffic, I have become a silently loathing apathetic commuter. The pollution everywhere and the general lack of discipline still pisses me off. But my complaints are now compartmentalized in my own case study in progress --- "What is ailing Manila that it has become home to one of the world's worse non-moving traffics of all time?" Exaggerating? There may be New York - but at least the other available modes of transportation like subway provide you ample time to plan your commute (read: there is a schedule; this is followed). There may be Thailand - but minus the crazy honking and possible road rage.

Some random points from this case study over the 6-7 years:

• Public highways and transportation is for the general public, not for the private few. Traffic rules should respect this.
• Designate strict loading and non-loading points where public transportation riders can properly line up and wait. Installing ticket vending machines would be great. MRTs and LRTs are good trial projects but the supposed brilliance of Filipino minds can do much better than this.
• Plan loading and non-loading points based on most frequently visited destinations (work, school and leisure). Designate time schedules for pickup and time allotted per loading/unloading point.
• Conduct a thorough study of the public transportation users' traffic (in the real sense) from home to work, and back, as well as other destination points. Adjust the number of public transportation vehicles allowed and travel schedules based on the results of this study.
• If government has no money to fund such study, then they should be more creative. I'd like to believe that there are loads of students out there that are dying to do this at no cost (for love of country, if not out of sheer frustration at the previous governments' non-action). Just to illustrate - my college team did help our local government in conducting a study for restoring cultural heritage in Iloilo City's CBD -- probably for various reasons, but mainly to exceed the professor's expectations -- at no cost to the local government of course.
• Limit issuance of professional driving licenses based on a well-studied number of transportation vehicles.
• The capacity of the public transportation vehicle should be proportionate to the distance traveled. Imagine riding "sardines-style" for four hours.
• When your cab or bus says Air-conditioned, mean it.
• Taxicabs should issue official receipts. How about LTO issuing a similar taximeter (compact version) to commuters so we can compare and detect those batingtings (read: manipulated taxi meters)? Taxicabs with X number of valid complaints should be penalized up to a point that they learn their lessons very well (right now, I think there's some sort of court hearing required).
• If we can solve this Manila traffic problem, maybe we can solve this other problem of taxicab drivers refusing to take passengers, or asking for additional 20-50 pesos because of "traffic".
• And maybe, our buses will stop being kings of the road a.k.a. death machines.
• And maybe, traffic aides will be rid of their corrupt reputation. How can they charge kotongs, i.e., spare-me-of-the-ticket money, if our drivers are well-disciplined and if vehicles breeze through the highways with no time to stop for money chats?
• If we can solve this Manila traffic problem, maybe we can all be seated in our public buses. Enduring the morning/after-office rush standing up will be an unlikely choice.
• And maybe bus operators would spend the extra money in adjusting the seat width and aisles to fit average-sized Filipinos and not just halves of them.
• Perhaps just maybe, we could gain back the miles of patience lost and live a less stressful life. Perhaps Manila wouldn't seem so bad for urban living.