The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed ordinance designating a temporary exclusive lane for public utility vehicles (PUVs) along Palispis-Aspiras highway, formerly Marcos highway, during rush hours in the morning and afternoon for a period of three months.
Under the proposed ordinance, private motor vehicles shall be barred to utilize the exclusive lane for PUVs during rush hours.
Further, PUVs shall be allowed to utilize other lanes or switch lanes other than the exclusive lane.
However, motor vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks, and those responding to an immediate medical, peace and order, public safety and security, disaster, or similar emergency or situations will be exempted from the provisions of the aforesaid ordinance.
The ordinance tasked the Traffic and Transportation Management Division of the City Engineering Office and the Traffic Enforcement Unit of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) and police stations 5 and 10 to coordinate and implement the pertinent provisions of the proposed measure.
Moreover, the TMD-CEO and TEU-BCPO shall submit their respective observations and recommendations to the local legislative body within one month after the lapse of the traffic experiment.
Any motor vehicle found violating the pertinent provisions of the ordinance shall be fined P500 to be paid to the City Treasury Office.
The ordinance claimed that if the proposed traffic experiment along the Palispis-Aspiras highway will be successful, the city government shall further study the scheme’s citywide application which may be able to ease traffic problems for PUVs and passengers.
The Palispis-Aspiras highway serves as one of the major entry points to the city and a major traffic problem area of the local government.
The ordinance noted that one of the problems of jeepneys and other PUVs in the city is that they cannot travel fast enough to their respective terminals or route due to traffic causing the long queuing of passengers.
With the conduct of the proposed traffic experiment only along Palispis-Aspiras highway, the proposed measure states that the city government will be able to see if there are improvements to traffic flow and efficiency of public transport in the covered area.
The proposed ordinance was referred to a committee for study and recommendation for second and third readings prior to its implementation. By Dexter A. See
