Baguio traffic

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – Talking about traffic in this summer capital is considered redundant. It is still heavy, period.
    To ease this perennial problem folks are saying for the nth time, traffic lights should be synchronized and police should not be directing traffic when these are on since this confuses drivers who don’t know what to follow. This could cause accidents, they say.
    For one, it has become a practice for drivers bound to the central business district at the overpass along Magsaysay road to ignore the traffic light even if it turns red and police don’t mind.
    Same with traffic lights from lower Session going down lower Mabini.
    The pedestrian lane light is green for people to cross yet the cop manning the area motions one to proceed. 
    At lower Mabini, one has to be alert as at times, one can’t turn right to Harrison, but lately, this was allowed. There are many others.
    Motorists and pedestrians get confused.
    Blame it on so-called “traffic experimentation.” Officials say this is needed to find solutions on easing traffic.
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This, while some enterprising folks sell towels or steering wheel covers right in the middle of the street like Abanao. They also act as traffic directors.
    It is good the City Council came up with legislation banning barkers some of whom are acting like they own the road.
    Drivers of those so-called modernized passenger buses also feel entitled that they stop anywhere even if they are not letting in or letting out passengers causing traffic since vehicles behind them are blocked.
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All these, while streets have been converted into open air bazaars like Harrison Road at nighttime.
Session Road is also closed to traffic on Sundays so artists or kids could use the road as canvass to paint or rollerskate while the lucky entrepreneurs sell along the road.  
    Buskers sing to their hearts’ content and characters of all types wear costumes depicting superheroes to regale the crowd. The adage, roads are beyond the commerce of man is just that, an adage.
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This, while motorists along nearby roads curse to high heavens demanding why the Session, the main thoroughfare is closed Sundays when it is causing heavy traffic.   
     There have been more complaints from motorists making a ranking officer of the Baguio City Police Office deny what he called “wrong impression of some residents and visitors in the Summer Capital that traffic occurs when there are police personnel in the streets directing traffic.”
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In a media forum, Sept. 27 at City Hall, Lt. Col. Domingo Gambican, BCPO chief of operations, said traffic cops help manage flow of traffic to make motorists reach their destinations safely and faster.
    He said traffic in the city is usually heaviest during rush hours when people travel to and come from schools and workplaces; weekends wherein tourists usually flock to the city and at busy intersections.
Only several areas in the city, like the central business district, experience heavier traffic on a regular basis while the rest, more often than not, have smoother vehicular passage flows, Gambican said.
    “Traffic management involves enforcement, education and engineering. We in the police are focused and involved in its enforcement aspect,” he said.
    Gambican said additional police personnel are usually deployed during rush hours, weekends and at busy intersections most of which are located in close distance of each other.
    To help ease incidents of traffic congestion, he urged motorists not in a hurry to avoid joining rush hour crowd.
    City officials led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong have been encouraging residents and visitors to use public transportation more often or use bicycles and walk, if possible, as healthier alternatives saying it would be better for the environment.
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When travelling to the Summer Capital of the Philippines, you might want to rethink bringing your car.
Baguio City remains a top tourist destination in the country, and it has proved its popularity during the holiday season due to influx of tourists.
    This has worsened traffic, as arriving tourists tend to bring their own cars.
    Mayor Magalong had acknowledged the issue of mobility in the city and earlier this month, in a Facebook post, he asked the Baguio populace’s patience to accommodate visitors in the tourist-driven city.
    “As practicable as possible, park your cars and take public transport,” the city chief executive said.
Magalong also encouraged residents and city goers to walk because it is “good for your heart” and “good for your health”.
    In a social media post by the Baguio City Public Information Office, he cited importance of tourism to offset the city’s “shortfalls in its revenue collections in the past years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

    The local government’s tourism office earlier said that arrivals in 2022 were "already reaching pre-pandemic levels with around 150,000 visitors per month since March or an estimated 1.2 million so far.”

    The worsening traffic in the city, particularly during the holidays, has not sat well with residents.

    A social media post from a Baguio resident said, "di na talaga namin kayang mga taga-Baguio yung traffic at hassle na dulot niyo".

    Some tourists have also lamented that they “cannot enjoy Baguio” due to heavy traffic.

    "Traffic in Baguio! Please, reconsider coming up na, overloaded city, "another Twitter user complained.

    The city council, in a resolution signed by Magalong, had requested the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera Administrative Region to allow construction of a multi-level parking building along Buhagan Road more popularly known as Bokawkan, “to ease traffic congestion”.

    Magalong, in a recent video posted by Baguio PIO, said “investors expressed interest in investing in various projects, particularly on smart mobility projects” in the city.

    The city government has also announced plans to build 15 parking buildings in the city near or along the central business district.

    This, aside from a proposal to build a monorail to traverse city barangays and adjoining Benguet towns like Tuba and La Trinidad. Meanwhile, motorists have to bear with the problem as traffic experiments are conducted.

    For one, if you are along Harrison and Session Road is closed, you have to go near the Convention Center if you intend to go to the old bus station below SM. In the not so distant past, one could just turn the corner at the University of the Cordilleras to reach the station.

    Like we said, talking about traffic in Baguio is redundant.