City officials recently approved the allocation of one parking space for the Itogon public utility jeepneys bound to Dalicno, Ampucao at Otek Street beside Good Taste restaurant.
Under Resolution No. 537, series of 2024, the Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Traffic Legislation, in its 3rd indorsement dated August 15, 2024, favorably recommended the earlier request of the Itogon municipal council embodied in Resolution No. 163, series of 2024 which stated that the matter was referred to the Traffic and Transportation Management Division (TTMD) of the City Engineering Office (CEO) which has the technical expertise on the matter recommending one parking space allocation for Dalicno at Otek Street beside Good Taste restaurant as per their letter dated August 13, 2024.
Further, this parking space is the only available area that the city government could offer at the moment.
Earlier, the council considered Itogon Municipal Council Resolution No. 163, series of 2024 that earnestly requested the Baguio city government, through the city council, to identify a loading and unloading space along the Veterans Park in Harrison Road for Dalicno jeepney transportation.
In their resolution, the Itogon municipal government expressed its sincere appreciation to the city government for considering the previous request of the body to allow the Dalicno and Acupan jeepneys to unload and pick up passengers within the city proper and frustrated that the current arrangement for Dalicno jeepney transportation, which involves a pick and go process, is not effective due to the difficulty in filling up the jeepneys, necessitating commuters to travel to a designated parking area that is far from the city proper.
Moreover, this situation had raised concerns from the commuters of sitio Dalicno, including increased fares due to taking multiple rides, security risk for students dismissed late from school, security concerns for commuters travelling home late, additional challenges for senior citizens and commuters with heavy baggage and difficulties for emergency cases and patients seeking medical treatment.
In a letter explanation dated August 13, 2024, the CEO-TTMD recommended one parking allocation for Dalicno jeepneys along Otek Street beside Good Taste restaurant, explaining that the allocation of staging, loading and unloading areas for all public utility jeepneys are results of an objective study and concurrence of the traffic management technical working group having considered the point of origin of in-bound jeepneys and the availability of open spaces within the central business district among other matters.
The CEO-TTMD added that if adjustments are being made, it is because the city is giving temporary considerations to public requests, however, to a reasonable extent only to avoid the recurrence of heavy traffic congestion in a particular area.
It claimed that inasmuch that the city finds means to allow the additional allocation for Dalicno jeepneys, the area requested is already congested because nine Baguio City jeepney associations are utilizing a portion of Veterans Loop as loading, unloading and staging areas.
The CEO-TTMD claimed that the vehicular traffic in loop is already slowed down due to the number of different vehicles traversing the street, aggravated by pedestrians due to the permission of face-to-face interaction. By Dexter A. See
