BELOW THE LINE By AMBASSADOR JOSE ABETO ZAIDE Ambassador José Abeto Zaide You can’t run a country if you can’t solve the metropolitan traffic. PDu30 wisely assigned the task to his traffic czar, Secretary of Transport Arthur Tugade. None of my children, let alone my grandchildren, could imagine that once upon a time, I commuted daily from Tambo, Parañaque, to Loyola Heights on Katipunan, QC, making it in time for 8:30 class and back home for dinner and still did my homework and lessons.

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MASS TRANSIT.  Anticipating traffic knotting into snarl, then President Ferdinand Marcos introduced the LRT, which runs to this day with additional MRT lines. PROBLEM: But MRT and LRT run 20% slower for safety reasons. The state of the tracks obliged management to prescribe our mass transit system to run 10% slower, and later, by another 10 % less. Friends recently took the MRT at peak hours. They didn’t have to walk; the flow of human traffic carried them to the platform. But they gave up after seeing several overloaded cars stop by without letting them in. SOLUTION. Fixing the tracks and restoring the MRT trains to run on ordained speed would gain 20% more passengers and gain 20% more quality time for commuters. If the franchisee doubles the frequency of trains during peak hours, that’s nearly two-and-a half times the present capacity (200% + 40%). It doesn’t take rocket science to see that fixing the system will make Manila get up and go. The long-term solution is to add a circle line and probably one or two more criss-crossing lines to our MRT network. But that’s for the next administration.

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MOTORCARS. Our traffic woe has everyone coveting a motorcar because of our impossible mass transit system. The short distance from Alabang to Sucat on the West Service Road has five gasoline stations.  Several gasoline stations popping up everywhere reflects the thirst of motorcars because of metropolitan traffic. The SLEX, NLEX, and SKYWAY are helpful solutions for motorists. But the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) must direct franchise holders to improve their service and facilitate the flow of traffic: Long queues on toll gates because only a fraction of motorists have prepaid Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) tags. Expect 10 to 30 seconds per motorist at the counter. They added ambulant collectors to help relieve congestion at major exit points. (Good for employment but not for traffic flow). ETCs give no discount. (Worse, there is even added P10 on prepaid ETCs. An expat pointed this penny ante habit of our SLEX, NLEX and SKYWAYS.) Discounts on ETCs would decongest entry and exit points on tollways. Finally, TRB should require state-of-the-art electronic readers at toll gates so motorists can zip past without slowing down as in other countries?

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TROUBLE IN LILIPUT. In a previous posting, I wrote about a fictional village, Tarry Awhile, whose populace was divided over how best to run the affairs of the mini state. A crisis arose when the lady past president, after resigning, changed her mind (a lady’s prerogative), and claimed back her office. Fast-forward to today; we have a house divided against itself: One faction is the incumbent governing body, supported by the Council of Three Elders which oversees the affairs of villages and ruled the pretenders out of tune. Another faction goes by the decision of an acting overlord, who ruled five members of the opposing camp disqualified and called for new elections. There hangs the tale. The village is bombarded in a battle of tarpaulins, each side claiming to be the rightful representative of the village. Last week, one faction in a lynching mood caused the village president  --  who had come for a dialogue  --  to make an early exit because prudence is the better part of valor.   BTW, for the first time, the village will have no Christmas party.  It may postpone Christmas until after new elections.  If this happens in a first-class community, you can understand why we are this way. FEEDBACK: [email protected]