For several decades now, Metro Manila traffic remains a a major problem despite all the solutions government officials are implementing such as “Number Coding or U-turn Only System“. One good example is Ortigas Avenue Extension starting from Cainta Junction up to Greenhills Shopping Center. When I was still working locally,from mid-80’s to mid-90’s, this road was already a problem. It will be a good sign if you can drive your car at 100 m in 10 minutes. A trip from Antipolo to Makati which will only takes about 30 minutes without traffic delays will take you about 2 or 3 hours. How much productive time is being wasted on the road alone, not to mention the wasted fuel.
Let us assume that there are about 100,000 employees being delayed on the road for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour on the way back home. At about PhP200 per hour average rate, that will be equal to Php 40,000,000 loss per day. Just calculate how much production is lost for a year. How much will that contribute to the Philippine economy in terms of taxes alone?
As traffic congestion remained for decades now despite the solutions the government have implimented, it means that those are not effective. Government think tank should create a more long term solution rather than short term to solve the traffic problem. Productive people is good for the economy.