Smart mobility, infra set to fix Baguio traffic

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- The city government is setting strategic or tactical programs to provide long-term solution to the perennial traffic problem confronting the city.
    Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the city’s Traffic and Transportation Management Working Committee regularly fine tunes the city’s traffic schemes to address the weekend gridlocks but these measures can only provide stop gap solutions.
    “The only way to we can address our traffic problem and the issue on local irritability is by implementing strategic measures like the smart mobility and transportation system that we are pursuing coupled with other infrastructures that we need to put up,” the mayor told a press briefing Dec. 5.
    He said the city hopes to start implementing next year the smart mobility and transportation system which is the same traffic system being used in Singapore.
     “We have been working on it for the past one-and-a- half years and we are seeing a breakthrough.   However, one problem is that the no contact apprehension which is one of the key features of the program is now the subject of a TRO (temporary restraining order).  We hope that this will be resolved as soon as possible,” the mayor said.
    He said the smart mobility project has five components – artificial intelligence-managed traffic, parking management, road users’ fee, public transport management and the law enforcement which incorporates the no contact apprehension aspect.
     “This is a joint venture between the city government and one of our partners is the same company which designed and implemented the scheme in Singapore so we are enthusiastic about this so we are really hoping that the case will be resolved as soon as possible to get the project on the ground,” the mayor said.
    He said other projects being pursued is the intermodal transport terminal to be built on a five-hectare area adopting the same concept as the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) terminal and tying it up with the utilization of electric vehicles.
    The mayor announced a breakthrough in the ongoing testing of e-vehicles saying one vehicle was able to pass after a three-week road test.  He said the city will continue to invite other companies to test their vehicle capability in negotiating the city’s roads.
    Another project in the pipeline is the elevated monorail project which took three years to work out and which is now in the evaluation phase.
    He said another venture, the cable car project is now being worked out in collaboration with the BLISTT Development Authority to benefit not only Baguio but also the nearby municipalities of Benguet province.