BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan is asking the council to tread carefully on the proposed lifting of number coding scheme for public utility jeepneys.
Domogan said the move may not be the answer to commuter woes as the traffic congestion problem will remain even if jeepneys are allowed to ply freely.
“Pag aralan natin yan (Let us study this carefully), get studies and involve the traffic division,” the mayor cautioned.
The proposal was made by Councilor Elmer Datuin in response to complaints of long queues at jeepney terminals which have hounded the city council.
Datuin said the queues are long because the jeepneys could not immediately make a round trip and return to the terminals.
Domogan added that the queues will remain as the traffic problem will likewise keep the jeeps stuck on the road and deprive commuters of a ride.
The chief executive said problem areas for jeep queues have been identified by the Traffic and Transportation Management Committee (TTMC) to be the Irisan, Naguillian and Marcos highway areas.
The TTMC was created by the local government to be the policy-making body relative to traffic and transportation in the city covering various inter-city inter-provincial among other major routes leading to the city.
Domogan said window schemes for public utility vehicles (PUVs) affected by the strict implementation of the number coding scheme is currently being done to find solutions to the problem of traffic and commuters.
Previously, proposals from Teodoro Tan and Joseph Claridades were presented to the city council to ease the congestion in the city.
Tan pushed for the creation of the Baguio City Parking and Traffic Office to oversee all concerns as well as management of traffic to head implementation of traffic laws as well as management of traffic flow, assistance to executive and legislative branches as well as coordination with government agencies with regards to projects that will affect smooth flow of traffic.
The Claridades proposal dubbed "Improving Baguio's Traffic Flow, the Smart Way," delving on a holistic approach in traffic management presented in a three-step plan starting with; making roads smarter; moving people smarter and the creation of the city center bus line.
In the proposal, public transport will be made efficient, roads smarter, change motorists behavior. For the environment, to lessen air pollution, law enforcement more efficient with daily 3 hours free parking, the community a better lifestyle and pedestrians safer.