Commuting. More fun in the Philippines.

I was browsing through Facebook this morning for my daily dose of news and cute videos (hehe!) then I stumbled upon this news: LTFRB exec proposes EDSA traffic scheme. When I read this, I thought of many reasons why this is not going to work in our current transportation system. I think this proposal will be a good idea if we have a better public transportation system. I mean, seriously?? Are you proposing this now? Have you seen how the buses/jeepneys/taxis acts like they rule the road?? And you guys are the one who give them the license to run. Please, fix the public transportation first before giving out proposals like this one. (I'm sorry, I just hate those buses/jeepneys who doesn't know how to follow the traffic rules and who feels like they can stop anywhere they want!!)

Okay, the problem may be because of the huge volume of private vehicles on the road everyday because people who can afford cars will definitely buy one (and cars are so affordable nowadays). They wouldn't want to risk their life riding a jeepney or bus that may contain snatchers or drivers who doesn't even know defensive driving. Have you seen how these buses drive in Commonwealth? Hanggang may butas, lulusot! HELLO, we have a yellow lane for you guys! Also, if you've been watching the news regularly, there will always be news about a jeep/bus that got into an accident or bus that caught fire. If the authority assure the people that the drivers of the public transpo can drive safely and will stop at their designated stops, then I believe more people will use the public transpo. Offer the people a system that they can believe in and I assure you, there will be lesser private vehicles on the road. Would people choose this over the hassle of bringing a car??

Parking is a pain in the ass (especially in Makati or Taguig) so personally, I would love to commute rather than bring my own car but since, I'm too scared to ride a bus or the MRT, I'd rather have a hard time looking for a parking than risk my life or waste my time in line.

I think this is where MMDA/LTFRB should focus on. Invest on an efficient public transportation system then implement it. We may have a better system in the future but implementation sucks here in the country. For example, when the MMDA released the bus segregation system in EDSA, I think it was a good idea but it wasn't implemented properly. So yes, it was a fail. I hope the authorities can impose right discipline to the drivers and the commuters.

There are always two sides of the story thus, authority should also discipline commuters who doesn't know where to wait/go down. Another reason why the MMDA's bus segregation system failed is because commuters doesn't know where to go down. They would like to go down to the place convenient for them (and they do not think of the hassle they are giving to cars behind the buses they are in!!!) They don't want to go down at designated stops because it's far from their destination... then ride a taxi if you like to go down right in front of where you are going!! (Sorry, another pet peeve!) Also, commuters sometimes wait at the middle of the road for jeeps/buses! As in middle of the road. So obviously, jeeps/buses will stop at the middle of the road too which causes inconvenience to cars behind them! For the commuters out there, know your place, please.

I know that this is possible because other countries have excellent transportation system that people follow. I saw how efficient it is in Singapore and I believe that this is possible for the country if we all help each other. Also, lesser cars on the road means lesser pollution! (yey!) Create a better system for public transport, train drivers to drive properly!, implement the system properly and discipline commutes. If this can be done, then I think we'll have smaller problems in our hand (then you might not need this proposal of banning private vehicles.)