An article came out of Rappler last weekend referring to
addressing one of the most persistent problems in Metro Manila - traffic. It is
a problem that is the result of years of neglect, poor planning,
inconsistencies and a lack of foresight for future transport needs.
"Perhaps there are more than one beast to talk about considering that there is not one cause of the transport and traffic problems we experience everyday in Metro Manila (and elsewhere). We love ranting about how traffic is bad and how other people should leave their cars at home and yet we do little ourselves to pitch in to improve the situation. And so we are beasts ourselves in this manner. The discussions on public transport and road infrastructure have been going on since perhaps the author decided to practice transportation engineering. What has changed? Have things improved or have they worsened? It is really difficult to effect change when decision-makers and policy-makers are short of memory or have no memory or understanding at all of what's going on. It seems that we are always starting on a clean slate every time someone new is at DOTC, DPWH or whichever agencies are supposed to handle transport and traffic in MM (and the country). Perhaps some criteria should be applied to whoever will be in-charge of transport and traffic, and one should be that the person or persons should be someone taking public transport to the workplace. At the least, we can be assured that he/she has first-hand experience of the painful way we travel each day and lead the person to really work towards improving transport in this country."
I don't usually write replies or comments on material posted
online. I believe it is a very public platform and nowadays, when there's a lot
of talk on items like plagiarism, transparency, freedom of information, etc.,
it seems so easy to solicit opinions and comments from anyone who would care or
dare post one. And transport and traffic seems to be a topic where everyone has
his/her own opinion so much so that some people tend to project themselves as
experts on the topic. Nevertheless, I thought that an opinion was necessary in
order to offer another perspective on the matter of the "beast." I
would like to believe that in our case, we probably have had one too many
"thought leaders" in transport and traffic. It is time that we also
have "action leaders" who would do rather than simply say or write.
We need people who will practice what they preach and actively and willingly
contribute when called upon for help in solving this traffic mess we are in.
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