Friday, February 22, 2008

Rants!

It seems like we who are traversing the SLEX are going to be facing hard times again. The continuation of the skyway will soon be ongoing and now that they have narrowed down the road, the telltale signs of heavy traffic on both sides are imminent. There has never been a single day when I have not been stuck in traffic going home for two weeks now! What's worse is that a new construction is ongoing at C5 and I have to endure another traffic grid from Market Market all the way to Buting.

What really gets my goat is learning that the operators of the SLEX have revived their stupid solution of decongesting the north bound vehicles every morning by having a counterflow scheme. What this does is decongest the traffic by some 10 per cent for the north bound vehicles and demobilize the south bound ones a hundred percent from the foot of the connecting C5 bridge all the way to Bicutan.

I have told a friend once that Citra (the company running SLEX) should not charge vehicles using the highway everytime there is a humongous traffic. To think that commuters have to pay a whopping Php65 from Nichols till Alabang one way! And for what? Only to be stuck for hours. But then, my friend said, the more that we should be charged. After all, we are staying on the highway a longer time.

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In a different story, I was watching the news this evening when a story caught my attention. The story links Joe de Venecia to smuggling. Naturally, De Venecia denies the charge and countered it is the First Gentleman and his son who have connections with smugglers. One of the good things that come out from this ZTE deal is that these trapos are on each other's throats and throwing mud at each other. Hah! Let them kill one another, I say, and rid the Philippines of them. We don't need these greedy bunch whoever they are.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

the mathematic variables of philippine traffic:
1. rush hour traffic (given na ito)
2. road constructions (grows exponentially with number of constructions)
3. accidents (more road lanes blocked = more fun)
4. rain/flood
5. freak occurances

record time ko na nastuck sa traffic goes under the fifth variable: from dls-csb in taft to las pinas via skyway. four freakin hours!! this was the night of the manila penninsula siege. XD

rolly said...

joseph d Four hours is nothing compared to what I have experienced before. From sun up till sun down! Yup, was stranded for very long hours before during the 70's at Recto. My father was to, and what's worse, it was his birthday and just went to Quiapo to hear mass. The poor man had to stay in Sta. Cruz the whole evening.

cathy said...

yan din ang gusto ko sa mga awayan, labasan ng dumi. napapansin ko lang yong dumi ni lozada hindi masadong pinapublish ng dyaryo. ayaw masira ang image na ginawa nila para sa whistleblower na self-confessed corrupt.

natatawa ako nang nakikihalo na si jdv3 sa mga demonstrators. nasaan kaya siya noong nagpapasasa ang tatay niya sa mga kontrata nito sa middle east.

May alam ako may senador diyan na ang tatay ay isa ring corrupt.

hindi inaaprubahan ang procurement sa isang department pag wala siyang commission.

pero kung makapagsalita akala mo napakalinis.

bayi said...

We do have similar situations in Malaysia. Counterflows and usually organized along stretches of the highways where there are potentially traffic bottlenecks but they are carefully monitored by the highway concessionaire staff and traffic police to ensure a smooth flow. Usually this happens when the urban folks are rushing to their home provinces for a long celebration. After a couple of days, the counterflow's direction is reversed to cater for the folks' return to the city.

In a couple of highways leading to the city, this is an everyday affair to ease the flow of people going into the city to work and vice versa but no charges are collected for these highways.

Counterflows can be useful, if properly planned and monitored. Once their use is no longer perceived there, other plans must be effected.

Jet said...

Mobility is the key. Imagine the volume of work people could do in the amount of time they sit in cars waiting to move. Translate that into the amount of business lost and business gained. This should be something so simple that even someone like me can figure out. But for decades we have never pulled ourselves together to make it work so that we get the better bargain.

Well I guess we've always had the answer... too much corruption that everything gets stalled. So why not traffic?

Anonymous said...

naku, Tito Rolly, traffic IS the number one reason why I refuse to work in Manila. I can't imagine getting stuck up in traffic. And I agree with you - they should give you a rebate if you get stuck up for longer than an hour!

rolly said...

cathy alam mo, dati ang damaing siga duon sa isang lugar na alam ko. Ngayon wala na. Nagpatayan hanggang sa maubos. Sana oarabg ganun mangyari sa mga pulitiko natin ano? Magkaubusan na lang sila lahat.

bayi There's the rub. Monitoring. While these highway cops seem to be monitoring the counterflow, they don't seem to mind that they are causing a huge traffic to an otherwise smooth travel. That's why I rant.

jet Exactly.

bugsy Buti ka pa. Ako no choice. And mind you, I am going away from Manila. Manila is worse.

ipanema said...

i hate traffic jam!

you are so right with that observation. di ba? the people are watching these trapos mudslinging at each other. kakahiya pero nakakatuwang tingnan...ay ang mga corrupt.

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the amateur ear said...

"Hah! Let them kill one another, I say, and rid the Philippines of them. We don't need these greedy bunch whoever they are."

Hear, hear!

Sa totoo lang, sa Pilipinas, ang mga politiko ang salot. Sila talaga ang malas sa lipunan. SA TOTOO LANG.

rolly said...

failed misanthrope totoo talaga. Mga bwisit yang mga yan.

Panaderos said...

Mike Arroyo has been a disgrace and an embarassment to GMA from Day One. The guy is a clear example of a person without a moral compass.

batjay said...

ano sir, magdasal na tayo kay lord para magkaroon ng delubyo na papatay sa mga mababait sa gobyerno. maganda itapat ng diyos sa state of the nation address para ubos lahat.

miss ko na ang pilipinas pero hindi ang traffic diyan. yan siguro ang isang dahilan kung bakit mas at peace ako rito. wala akong traffic on my way to work.

nung nasa pilipinas ako, i travel 4 hours everyday from antipolo to makati and back. it was one of the main reasons why i accepted the offer to work in singapore.

i needed to get away from the madness.