Two decades too late

August was off to an interesting start in the mobility sector thanks to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

- By Vincent Villa

Last week, the DILG held a meeting with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine National Police (PNP), and Metro Manila Council to discuss policies affecting the cities. One of the topics discussed was the never-ending traffic.

In a light bulb moment, DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla proposed a street parking ban from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm while MMDA Chairman Romando Artes suggested a no-side street parking policy during the rush hours of 7:00-10:00 am and 5:00-8:00 pm. This will be applicable to inner or secondary and tertiary roads, while primary roads like EDSA and the assigned Mabuhay Lanes will remain strictly no-parking zones. The Metro Manila Council is expected to come up with a resolution by September 1. How this would play out will be interesting.

If you've tried using side streets from major roads like EDSA, you'll notice a lot of these are one-way streets despite being 2-lane roads due to one side being used as street parking. It's easy to see these as possible decongestion routes.

The LGUs have already tried their hand at this. Together with the barangays, they assigned designated parking spots to avoid double parking, and implemented one-way schemes to prevent complications in each street. That's the local government being empathic towards the citizens. They know that public transportation is bad so the residents bought a car despite not having a garage because of the inhumane commuting conditions, and so they eased their restriction on street parking.

Some citizens have abused this empathy though. At a time when people should be at work, you'll still see these streets filled with cars. Some even have tents and covers.