Road jams persist, colorum cabs, too

Uriel Quilinguing . 

TRAFFIC. Traffic. Traffic everywhere.

You and I experienced the worst of traffic gridlock in Cagayan de Oro last month. It’s been there for years but nothing like it weeks before Christmas.

In a taxi, I left my residence in Barangay Bulua about 3:30 pm because I have to meet a friend at Limketkai before 5 pm. When I arrived, he already left. Why? It was already 7:30 pm.

Several self-proclaimed traffic czars the city government hired tried and all of them failed.

They know the 3Es in road traffic management which are engineering (road network), education (for drivers and pedestrians) and enforcement (of laws). They may have other Es, experience and expertise, for a holistic approach for the Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) to function well.

But even with these Es, blockages in key street intersections persist, the standstill of motor vehicles is getting longer.

Traffic jams have become the new normal for Cagayan de Oro, comparable and even worse than Metro Manila.

If only we can prevent motor vehicles from neighboring provinces and other cities from entering the city proper, perhaps we can control volume of traffic.

Official data during the third quarter of 2018 showed the Land Transportation Office 10 registered a total 127,572 motor vehicles, including 28,403 new registrants while the bulk of 99,169 are renewals. 

Easily, there are half a million motor vehicles in Northern Mindanao and most of these find their way in Cagayan de Oro anytime and any day of the week. This, notwithstanding those motor vehicles from other regions in Mindanao.

If I may suggest, a regional traffic management body must be created. And one of the schemes should be number or color coding scheme so that only a limited number of motor vehicles are allowed to be on the road in a particular day. This, however, is a long-term solution to the traffic problem not only in Cagayan de Oro but also in Iligan.

What can be done in the short-term is the nonegistration of vehicles that are no longer road-worthy.

Another move, with utmost urgency, is to completely do away with colorum taxicabs that are allegedly operating without franchises from the Land Transportation and Franchising and Regulatory Board and LTO registration. 

There could be a thousand of them that have been plying the streets since the third and fourth quarters of 2018 yet there is none in LTO 10 official statistical report of motor vehicles.

The existence of illegally operating taxicabs aggravate traffic woes and headaches to legitimate operators as well.

Road traffic will always be there. But I still believe I could reach Limketkai mall and meet a friend within 30 minutes from my residence if there is proper traffic management.

(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former editor-in-chief of this paper.)