The life is in Manila depends on traffic and we always talk about it. The last six years of my life all about talking the traffic and how to solve the traffic problem. The reason is also about my work here in the Philippines that project engineering on the expressway to speed up toll collection system with RFID based electronic system development.
When I was in Turkey my approximate driving or commuting time was around 30min. There are times in the city centrum the travel time was around 15min too. I was riding bus, metro or taxi, called as “dolmus” in Turkey. And I was confortable to commute on the public transportation. However in Manila I only ride public transportation if I don’t have car or no option to drive. Honestly it is not possible for me to accomplish any work task with public transportation. My work is on the expressway and I drive all around the expressway in the south part of Manila up to Batangas. In city centrum like Makati, BGC or Ortigas, the traffic condition is very bad especially on the morning and evening rush as people travel to go to work. The major road is EDSA that kinda chaos of traffic. Lots of vehicle driving everyday and motorcycles as well unexpectedly pop up on the right and left of the vehicle. I got used to it but at the beginning it was hard to adapt. Motor riding is very common in Manila and I believe it is an advantage for the people if you can very well manage the riding motor. For me it is a dangerous trip because city is so crowded and roads are narrow.
Manila is very populated city in a small land. Therefore mobility is so bad. Government is trying to fix the mobility problem by public transportation enhancement and also increasing the infrastructure investment. The motto is that Build, Build, Build. I totally support on that it is a must do agenda in the next few years of the Philippines. There are P.P.P. projects that on going around Manila’s major crowded areas. I believe it will be helpful to solve the problem. Hopefully we will see the days that no more traffic chaos in Manila and everybody keep safe on traffic and reach home to have more times with their loved ones.
hi_rullah 