THE arteries of Metro Manila were clogged on different occasions last week, with commuters relaying on social media that they experienced one-hell-of-a-commute owing to blocked roads, choosy drivers and the lack of proper traffic management.
Metro Manila residents have been suffering from heavy traffic since Tuesday—two days after the National Police’s Highway Patrol Group took over Edsa—thanks to the torrential rains that drenched the metropolis in the past few days.
A trip from Bonifacio Global City to Ayala Avenue in Makati—which usually takes about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the traffic situation—took a group of media practitioners an hour. Much to their dismay, the situation was no better going home to the provinces.
This reporter was not spared from the situation, as it took him three hours before he was able to hail a ride going home to San Mateo, Rizal, from Cubao in Quezon City. Tuesday’s traffic mess might have been the worse for many, but take out the rain from the equation, the situation will only be lessened by a small degree.
Hence, for Cisco Philippines Country Manager Luis Castañeda, solving the chronic mess in Manila’s traffic requires investments in cutting- edge solutions or, in layman’s term, technology.
“With each Filipino estimated to lose 300 hours due to traffic every year and the economy losing billions of pesos in productivity, the need to come up with a long-lasting, cross-cutting solution is even more urgent,” he said. “Metro Manila’s problematic traffic jams call for cutting-edge solutions that encompass various areas—the public-transport system, traffic and monitoring coordination and road-safety behavior.”
Traffic congestion per day, according to studies, amount to P2.4 billion in economic losses—that is for Metro Manila alone. Combined with the losses from the cities and provinces surrounding the capital, the Philippines loses P3.4 billion daily.
“With more than 50 percent of the world’s population currently living in cities and close to 700 million people moving into urban areas within the next 10 years, tremendous stress is being placed on already aging public infrastructures,” Castañeda said.
He recognized short- and medium-term measures were put in place and some of it has shown promising results. However, long-term measures must be considered to address the challenges of traffic management.
“For instance, urban and traffic planners can study how smart cities around the world have configured their traffic-management systems using Internet of Everything (IOE), and Big Data analytics. These cities employ IOE and analytics to connect the traffic-management system—traffic signals and traffic command centers—with a geographic information system (GIS)-enabled digital road map and use real-time analytics to manage traffic flow through busy thoroughfares,” he said.
Castañeda added that the use of Internet protocol (IP) cameras, sensors, applications over a secure Wi-Fi network infrastructure around Metro Manila can help provide real-time traffic condition visibility for traffic-management authorities.
Sensors, he noted, could be spread out across Edsa, for instance, and can send information to a central server, where traffic-management authorities can tag heavily congested sections, routing motorists into less congested side streets and improving traffic flow along Metro Manila’s major artery.
“Smart analytics, where data produced by smart+connected infrastructures, such as those mentioned above, are analyzed to gain insights on trends and behaviors, can be, likewise, used to manage intersections and accident-prone areas, where traffic buildup usually originates. The Smart Intersection Solution, developed by AGT International and Cisco utilizing its Data in Motion technology, uses edge analytics to aggregate data at intersections to support vulnerable road users, improve traffic flow, monitor air pollution and optimize traffic-infrastructure management,” he explained.
Cisco’s Smart Intersection solution “implements a number of technologies at city intersections to provide intelligent services to citizens, car drivers and pedestrians alike around the city. This solution has already shown potential in various real-world applications, such as an implementation of Hamburg’s first Smart City pilot projects.”
Castañeda said benefits for cities and road users include more efficient traffic flow, less pollution, and improved road safety and congestion traffic conditions.
“For transportation departments, a smart-connected traffic-management system will help deliver automated incident detection and quicker responses, better management of thoroughfares due to better-informed operational decision-making,” he said. Castañeda also said that smart analytics can save lives.
“For instance, it can guide an ambulance by getting real-time data from sensors, traffic signals on the way to hospital and GIS mapping of all roads leading to hospital. A message is sent to the ambulance display panel in front of the driver informing him which road to take. All signals toward hospital are asked to be on a particular color—red or green—prompting the ambulance to pass through,” he explained.
These technologies, he said, would aid the government in implementing measures to lessen the traffic congestion in the capital.