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Category Archives: Traffic Congestion
Examples of congestion pricing as applied in major cities
Here is a quick share of an article on cities that have been successful with congestion pricing:
Zukowski, D. (August 8, 2025) “5 cities with congestion pricing,” Smart Cities Dive, https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/5-cities-with-congestion-pricing/756987/ [Last accessed: 8/15/2025]
Quoting from the article:
“As cities around the world continue to see increased traffic delays, some have implemented congestion pricing programs to ease gridlock. Congestion pricing acts as a market-based mechanism: increasing the cost to drive in certain areas may encourage drivers to take alternate means of transport or travel at different times. Toll revenues can go to improving roadways and public transit or reducing other vehicle-related taxes.”
Indeed congestion pricing has been around and yet few cities have actually implemented congestion pricing schemes and have had success with it. In the Philippines, the discussions are basically on and off or intermittent. I recall there were already mention of congestion pricing in Metro Manila transport studies back in the 1970s but nothing really came out of those. Fast forward to the present and Baguio City in the northern Philippines implemented their version of number coding, which was supposedly a prelude to some form of congestion pricing but apparently is more of a travel demand management (TDM) scheme along the lines of Metro Manila’s UVVRP. Will we have our own proof of concept sometime soon even for a smaller area or district in any Philippine city? That will also be dependent on whether our so-called leaders can engage their constituents in meaningful discussions on the benefits of congestion pricing.
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On the need to rethink traffic metrics
While Level of Service (LOS) criteria is a concept that can be applied to many other transportation facilities and aspects, among the LOS criteria that have been the subject of much criticism (and perhaps rightfully so especially in the context of safety) are the ones used for intersections. These are associated with delay reduction, which always favors vehicular throughput. The latter means basically, high LOS corresponds to prioritizing car (or motor vehicle) movement while not particularly taking into consideration the safety and movement needs of other road users (not using motor vehicles). Here is an interesting article on this matter:
Boenau, A. (July 9, 2025) “The old traffic math that keeps destroying neighborhoods,” Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com/91362348/road-design-traffic-math-destroying-neighborhoods-los [Last accessed: 7/15/2025]
Quoting from the article:
Here are three important questions for experts to ponder:
- Is slow-moving car traffic ever safer than fast-moving traffic?
- Do we have any obligation to provide safe and convenient access for people when they aren’t inside cars?
- What are the economic downsides of wider, faster streets in the central business district?
When planners and engineers truly wrestle with those questions, they can choose to remain a conformist who ignores the damage of traffic metrics, or become an outlier in the industry and make a positive impact that might be felt for generations to come. Things can get better in the end.
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Again, I must say that rethinking roads and streets should be context sensitive. Still, safety should be the top concern especially for areas that is predominantly residential and/or school. Safety, after all, comes first in the definitions of transportation and traffic engineering.
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Here comes the rain again…
And just like that, Habagat is here and dumping rains upon us again. Yesterday’s downpour during the early afternoon resulted in flash floods including a few along our route home.
The combination of heavy rains and floods have significant impacts on transportation as traffic slows down or even stops as roads become impassable. As most commuters are dependent on road based transport, this means a tremendous inconvenience to a lot of people.
I’ve also written about this topic before. Despite the implementation of various flood control and drainage improvement projects, we seem to be back to square one once the rains come. There is certainly something wrong that the floods are still here after spending so much to mitigate them.
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Quick comments on the NCAP
The No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) is finally being implemented in Metro Manila. The results so far has been dramatic in terms of the number of violations recorded and the images being shared so far about how motorists are behaving. Below is one of those photos being shared on social media to which I added some annotations. I will use this later to comment on the NCAP and how we can use the outcomes to assess the transportation situation and determine what interventions can be done. Some are already obvious from the photo – the lack of public transport options lead to people depending on private motor vehicles like cars and motorcycles for their commutes. MRT7 is yet to be operational and road public transport has not been rationalized.
More on this topic soon!
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Solutions to transport problems: the combination of congestion pricing and transit infrastructure development
Congestion pricing and transit infrastructure development (e.g., mass transit infrastructure) are often mentioned separately or independently. It is as if they are mutually exclusive alternatives or solutions to our transportation problems. They are not and should be considered together for greater impacts and also to complement each other. While the article below focuses on the experience in the United States, the experience is Singapore as applied to cities should provide a model that can be adopted if not outrightly replicated. Singapore’s version of congestion pricing in the form of its Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme has been very effective in regulating congestion levels while helping fund public transportation in the city-state.
Descant, S. (May 8, 2025) “Congestion Pricing and Transit Are a Necessary Alliance,” Government Technology, https://www.govtech.com/transportation/congestion-pricing-and-transit-are-a-necessary-alliance %5BLast accessed: 11/05/2025]
Quoting from the article:
“In order to move a congestion pricing proposal forward, “you must have serious congestion, and you must have good transit,” said Sam Schwartz, a former New York City traffic commissioner, said during a March 21 panel on the New York City congestion pricing program. The event was organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Mobility Initiative. Schwartz is also the CEO of Sam Schwartz Pedestrian Traffic Management Services, a consulting firm.
A recent report by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University in California concluded roadway tolling — a form of congestion pricing — can serve the dual purpose of reducing traffic congestion and supporting transit options, if the programs are structured properly.”
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On understanding road diets
I’ve written and shared articles on road diets and complete streets before. Here is another article share on road diets
Johnson, R. (April 21, 2025) “Explainer: What is a Road Diet – And Why Should Cities Embrace It?,” Momentum Magazine, https://momentummag.com/explainer-what-is-a-road-diet-and-why-should-cities-embrace-it/ [Last accessed: 22/04/2025]
To quote from the article:
“The road diet isn’t about punishing drivers. It’s about creating streets that work better for everyone—from the parent pushing a stroller to the teenager biking to school, the delivery driver navigating a tight urban corridor, or the senior walking to the store.
As our cities continue to evolve, road diets offer a cost-effective, data-backed, and scalable way to make them safer, cleaner, and more livable. It’s not just about losing a lane—it’s about gaining a better future for urban mobility.”
Indeed, the first thing that usually comes to mind of motorists whenever road diets and complete streets are mentioned is that the road space (and consequently capacity) will be reduced. This reduction of capacity is actually from the perspective of the motor vehicle rather than the number of people traveling along a road as well as improving road safety for all. The article is spot on in its discussion on the resistance to road diets (and complete streets). Of course, context is very important here and it is important to identify which roads can be transformed for the transformation to be most effective.
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On transportation problems being treated like diseases
I am sharing this relatively old article on transportation problems needing treatments as if these were diseases. I say it’s ‘old’ because it’s from last year, and these days when much content is being pushed everywhere including mainstream and social media, things get old, quickly. Rewind to more than a decade ago and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) wasn’t as popularly applied as today and Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere now including in transportation systems.
Menard, T. (September 1, 2024) “Transportation Rx: Treating Traffic Glut Like Doctors Treat Sinus Congestion,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/features/131478-transportation-rx-treating-traffic-glut-doctors-treat-sinus-congestion [Last accessed: 4/21/2025]
To quote from the article:
“Traffic congestion is not unlike congestion that builds up in the human airways. When we see a doctor, we are prescribed a treatment that clears the backup. Similarly for roads, rather than setting up road signs and cones to redirect traffic, cities can take a more prescribed treatment approach through methods such as congestion pricing and other road pricing strategies, as well as technologies like edge computing, navigation-enabled Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) modeling, and transit signal prioritization. “
This is not the first article to allude to medicine when the topic is traffic congestion. There are others that use terminology from the human body’s circulatory system. When an artery gets blocked, a bypass can be a solution. But perhaps we don’t need bypasses and look at other. more effective ways of dealing with transportation problems.
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A new bottleneck along Marcos Highway in Antipolo City?
I’ve been wondering why there seems to be much congestion along the westbound side of Marcos Highway in the morning just before we reach SM Cherry. It is usually flowing there but the past weeks when we used the route instead of Sumulong Highway, traffic was really bad. As I am quite observant about the traffic and always looking for reasons or causes, I found that this was due to the alternative route Antipolo ‘opened’ that many motorists now take when traveling between Marikina and the side of Antipolo heading in the general direction of Cogeo.
The alternate route connects Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway via TOCS Avenue (which intersects Marcos Highway near SM Cherry) and Sampaguita Street (which intersects Sumulong Highway past Masinag Junction and near the Hillside Centre Plaza before Soliven Avenue). If you’re coming from Marikina and heading in the direction of Cogeo or even Antipolo Simbahan then this route may provide shorter travel time as you won’t have to go around Masinag Junction to make an effective left turn to Marcos Highway (direct left turns at Masinag are not allowed).
This is the view from the queue approaching the intersection of TOCS Avenue with Marcos Highway from the eastbound side of the highway. Note that traffic is not flowing from the junction along the eastbound (Metro Manila bound) side of the highway.
A closer look with vehicles turning left to Marcos Highway from TOCS Avenue. There are usually Antipolo traffic enforcers facilitation (read: favoring) traffic from and to TOCS Avenue. This results to build-up along Marcos Highway where most traffic is through traffic.
The resulting congestion affects many travelers including freight along the westbound (Metro Manila-bound) direction of Marcos Highway.
While the alternate route likely provides shorter travel times for those coming from Marikina to Antipolo/Cogeo and vice versa, this is at the expense of more people and goods who and that travel along Marcos Highway. Antipolo should realize this even with basic observations on the traffic build-up in the area. Traffic for that alternate route should not be prioritized to the detriment of travelers along Marcos Highway.
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Counterflow lanes in Bangkok, Thailand
I almost forgot again about this set of photos showing the implementation of a counterflow scheme along a long stretch of road in Bangkok. Heading out of Bangkok, I was able to take photos of the counterflow lanes and variable traffic signs used for this purpose. We were northbound meaning we were traveling outbound of the metropolis and opposed to the peak direction (southbound was inbound to Bangkok).
Approaching an overpass where variable traffic signs are installed overhead (i.e., on a gantry).
It is easy to see which lanes are assigned for our direction and which ones for the opposite flow.
On the overpass, you can see that the variable signs are installed at regular intervals. There are a few cones that act as physical separators (not really barriers) between opposing flows.
Sort of a close up of the variable signs and a cone. I assume the cones are placed there by traffic authorities. They might be transferred to the other side of the overpass if the counterflow was in favor of our direction.
Another photo showing the installed variable signs towards the other end of the overpass.
Four lanes are assigned to inbound traffic while only two are for outbound traffic.
At the foot of the overpass is a pedestrian overpass. The stairs appear to be quite steep based on the photo. I’m not aware of criticisms of the pedestrian footbridges in Bangkok. I would have to ask my Thai friends about their designs.
Another overpass where all lanes are assigned to the southbound direction
The parked vehicle on the chevron is with the traffic authority of Bangkok.
I actually started writing this in April last year. I will try to finish some drafts I started last year this month while also posting about my recent travel to Bicol.
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To B(RT) or not to B(RT)?
I kind of expected questions or comments from my ‘students’ after my lecture last Wednesday about “Traffic Congestion.” Among my slides were those featuring solutions to transport and traffic problems. I presented both soft and hard approaches including travel demand management schemes and infrastructure that we should have built decades ago. The uniformed officers who were there had a very simple take on congestion – it’s basically because of a lack of discipline. While theirs may also be valid observations based on their experiences, ‘discipline’ is not the most critical problem that we have especially considering the ever increasing demand for travel. One government official present was very direct in his question about what I thought about the MMDA’s pronouncement that they plan to remove the EDSA Bus Carousel. I thought my reply and the following explanation was clear – it was a wrong move.
The EDSA Bus Carousel is simple. Bus lang sa bus lane (Only buses along the bus lane). Pag may private or pa-VIP, bawal at huli dapat (If there are private vehicles or those who regard themselves as VIPs using the lane, then they should be apprehended. An HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane is more difficult to implement. Mas pahirapan ang pag monitor and enforce (It is very difficult to monitor and enforce). So this proposal to phase out the EDSA bus lanes don’t make sense from this perspective. In fact, I don’t agree with a couple of more senior transport experts who say that the MRT Line 3 is sufficient and that it hadn’t reached capacity yet. It has but in the time that the carousel has been operational, the carousel had absorbed much of the demand along the corridor. There is also the fact that it will take much time before Line 3 is upgraded. Are the new train sets here? Are the stations designed for these trains and more passengers? If the answers are no, then MRT3 will not have its capacity increased in such a short time. That also means the carousel is very much relevant not just to supplement MRT3 capacity but as a needed alternative mode for commuters.
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Caught (up) in traffic 