It’s those half empty colorum buses, stupid!
DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star)
Now the guy who thinks Manila is the Gate to Heaven wants to stop us from using our cars two days in a week. Sure, we are rather desperate about our worsening traffic situation. But the proposal is so stupid I am no longer surprised it came from him.
It shows that they are incapable of creative thinking at MMDA. The proposal is a sure fire plan to make traffic even worse. Folks will just do what they did when we adopted the number coding scheme… buy another car. I suspect the MMDA guys are getting a fat commission from the car dealers.
On the other hand, those of us who cannot afford to buy another car will just suffer quite a bit from the inconvenience. Proposals like this can be expected from guys who have exempted themselves from the ban because they use government issued cars.
The uproar over the two-day ban proposal was expectedly loud and angry. Actually, if they had been using what little brain function they still have, they would have taken pains to first show that they have done all they can do and this drastic option is the only one left.
But everyone knows that there is still a lot more the MMDA folks can do before they exact more suffering from our already suffering people. To paraphrase former President Clinton, it’s those half empty colorum buses, stupid!
Yes, the MMDA Chairman must first gather the balls to deal with all those undisciplined half empty buses plying EDSA. Not only do those buses clog the highway, their undisciplined way of driving slows down traffic too. I recall an LTFRB official once estimated that less than a third of those buses are needed on EDSA...or was it just a fifth?
The question is… why is MMDA Chairman Tolentino afraid to deal with the colorum buses? At least former MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando had the balls to deal with them. Unfortunately, Fernando didn’t get the support of LTFRB so that the problem can be dealt with once and for all.
The talk around town is that police generals and politicians and their mistresses are the operators of those colorum buses which explains why officials like Tolentino are afraid to tangle with them. Government will have a lot more credibility to ask for more sacrifices if they are seen to have enforced the law and taken those illegal buses out.
Perhaps they can go back to basic Economics for a solution to the buses problem. As I have been saying here, I think the bus fare is set too high so that even a very low load factor is profitable for them.
Maybe we can set the bus fare at the same level as the MRT and watch those illegal buses voluntarily take their units out. The legal ones should not complain because without the unfair competition, they get more passengers and do more trips with better traffic flow.
If that is still insufficient, we can go and use Economic principles again. Because of the congestion, using EDSA now has a higher price and those who want to use it at certain hours of the day must be ready to pay that price.
This is not a new idea. Singapore and London among other big cities use this rush hour toll on vehicles as a means of making users think twice about their trip. Those who do not want to pay the toll can schedule their trip after rush hours. Those who cannot afford not to be on the road on rush hour must factor the additional cost.
People should be made to use their judgment through economic incentives and disincentives. We can still have that one day number coding and in addition, put in the rush hour toll. All cars must get a transponder so that no toll booths will be needed… as they do it in Singapore.
Read more:
http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/07/15/969941/its-those-half-empty-colorum-buses-stupid
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