Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Cortes firm vs. tricycle highway access request
TRICYCLE drivers in Man-daue City held a protest rally yesterday and demanded that they be allowed to pass through national roads again.
But Mayor Jonas Cortes was not moved by the activity, saying the traffic management board will not reconsider its policy because it will only cause heavy traffic in intersections that are already congested.
Cortes chairs the traffic management board.
“Sorry but I won’t permit that. I have to be consistent… our traffic situation has improved and I wouldn’t want to go back to the kind of situation we were in before. I won’t give in to what they are asking for,” he said in a phone interview.
The traffic management board held a meeting yesterday afternoon, but only to identify other alternatives in addressing congestion problems in A. Cortes Ave.
During peak hours, traffic under the flyover in Barangay Maguikay and the area near a department store in Barangays Ibabao and Estanca gets heavy.
Except for crossing the A. Cortes highway, tricycles are confined within barangay roads as specified in the provisional franchise issued by the board. Compliance of the franchise is strictly monitored by City Hall’s traffic personnel assigned in major thoroughfares.
Cortes admitted that the policy will not please everyone, but it could benefit majority of motorists who pass through the city’s major thoroughfares.
“We provided them a terminal because that was their first demand. Now they came out with another.. and I have to be fair because there are other sectors, including the businessmen who need equal treatment,” he added.
Cortes also rejected the drivers’ claims that they lost as much as half of their daily income because of the rerouting.
“I don’t believe that. Why would they even blame the rerouting for it?” he said said in Cebuano. (AIV)
