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Standard
fi{ ]; wrorursoay sEPTEMBER 18,201e
mst.daydesk@grnail.con

Opinion Ad.lb Chu., Editor

Ban dumb ideas

during rush hour
HE proposal to ban private vehicles from EDSA honendous tra6c snads they must
during rush.hours has one thing going for it-it endure-just like the people on the
bus.
will surely work. No doubt, such a ban would clear The congressman also neglects
to mention that it was his colleagues
Metro Manila's main circumferential road of the daily
from the Lib€ral Party, when they
traffic snarls that have become its signature feature. But were. still in po*er, that allowed'
then, so would banning the sale of new vehicles, liqiting public transport systems such as the
MRT to deteriorate to a point thst
car ownership to one vehicie per family, quadrupling they became untenable and unsafe,
the price ofgasoline, requiring companies to enforce He says nothing of the inequity
telecommuting five daysa week, or dectraring that only of having 300,fi)0 car own€rs psy
a road tax every year---lhen be told
pink cars will be allowed on the road. they may not use the road after all
We wonder, too, if the good con
In short, the proposal put forward by or streets outside EDSA or use public gressman would be covered by thc
Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice makes transport, Erice said. ban on private vehicles, or would he
as much sense as barring people fiom In justifuing his proposal, Erice said now be able to breeze tbmugh EDSA
going to the mall to ensure a smooth traffic rnanagers should give priority to in his govemment-owned car, ac-
shopping experience. the commuting public instead of pri- companied perhaps by a small policc
Under Erice's proposal, private ve- vate motorists. escort to steer the bus€s away.
hicles will be banned from EDSA from "We should prioritize the welfare Metro Manila Development Au-
ol ordinary workers, the poor, those in thority chairman Danilo Lim said the
6:00 to 9:00 a.m. and fiom 6:00 to 9:00
the lower middle class who don't have agency will "seriously considd' the
p.m. to decongest Metro Manila's busi-
est thoroulihfare. cars," he said. proposal and will bring it up with the
During those hours, Erice said, What the congressman fails to men- 17 Metro Manila mayors dudng their
EDSA will be a "mass transport high- tion is that most ofthe pdvate motorists coming Metr.o Manila Couneil meet-
way''and only public utility vehicles he wants to penalize in the name ofthe ing in October. It is the members of
will be allowed. poor are not ali that wealthy*and are the council, not the MMDA thst will
He said this lvill heip decongest already subsidizing the poor by way of decide whether they will approve the
EDSA, especially that tire vohrme of theit taxes, which go into'!ro-poor" proposals to solve the worsening
private vehicles that ply aiong the ma- programs such as the government dole traffic situation.
jor road reaches up to 300.000 while called thb 4Ps. When the time comes, wc tust
the buscs number o;rlv al-lo r.i 8,000. lle also fails to mention that these *rere will be enough right thinking
The 300.000 privlte car owners private r'ri)torists and tireir passeugen mayors who will rush to put the Er-
cc'uki *iihr; l:irva liilii lr'.ruses be- ri*C v;ri"re 1r! thd ecilnolny by g ng to ice proposal where it belongs"--in thc
fore 6 a.m. or aner !i ai.ln.. use ro,Jles work and treing productive, despite the trash bin ofdumb, discarded ideas.
tl p,qqs-Ag /