Demountable multi-level parking

Churchill Aguilar

PERHAPS the most talked about local issue in our city today is our worsening traffic situation during peak hours. Although deputized traffic enforcers are very visible, I think no amount of trafficking can ever solve the problem on the growing number of vehicles that are using our roads.

And as the number of vehicle increases, so is the need for ample parking space. I would have to circle four to five times around Cogon or Divisoria just to look for a parking space. And while mine and so many other cars could have decongested the road already had we found parking when we wanted to, we continuously add to the congestion until finally park our vehicles. And if our roads are actually free from all parked vehicles, I think the traffic would surely be free flowing.

So I have three things to say about this.

First is that no amount of traffic enforcers could ever solve the traffic congestion. We have traffic lights that can do that. Increasing the number of traffic enforcers are old school thoughts. They are band aids to a big problem. We have better technologies now that can address to real time traffic jams on the roads and intersections.

Second is that we need to improve on the response time of our traffic investigators. The major cause of traffic jams are usually vehicular accidents that clog the flow and would take so long to get removed since investigators are not that quick to come and are not that fast to note the needed things in their books. Last month, I was able to visit their office in Kauswagan to find out they were only a handful as they handle our relatively huge metropolis. No question about their skills in investigation. In fact, I commend them, but they need to be augmented more than the traffic enforcers.

Third is that all main roads in the city and in our public markets need to be free of any parked vehicle. But it is not just enough to put a no-parking sign in them. As I pointed out earlier, a vehicle that cannot park or is not parked is still very much part of the problem. What the big cities do to solve such is that they provide demountable multi-level parking. These are parking spaces made of steel and are assembled like leg toys. Since they are multi-level, they don’t consume much space but they could service as many cars.

The demountable multi-level parking only costs a few million pesos if purchased in China–a small price to pay in comparison to the economic losses caused by the traffic in our city. It is also very much affordable by our local government. And it can be perfectly placed at the Amphi-theatre area where every office and establishment is relatively near or at small places adjacent to our public markets or even at the parking lot of our city hall.

We have already tried penalizing our motorists for all the violations they commit–we have even become too stiff in implementing the law. But still, the traffic problem was not solved. We surely have increased in our collections from penalties and violations but still, the problem was not solved. Perhaps, just perhaps, we are looking at the problem using the wrong lens, and maybe, just maybe, we need a different kind of stroke to solve this.

Just saying.