Manila Traffic Report

Two of the things that I can always count on in life here is sweat and traffic.  Ironically, for someone who is easily tempted towards anxiety, Manila traffic and humidity do not easily cause me anxiety.  My ability to endure both, I think is partly because I realize they are items out of my control.  Most of my anxiety stems from the illusion of control that I believe I have.  But it is clear and beyond a shadow of doubt that I have no control over the traffic and humidity here.  So because traffic does not easily get me worked up, I find it fascinating!  I have seen reports that claim Manila has the worst traffic in the world.  (Which I believe was based on the usage of the Waze app.)  I am not exactly sure if that claim is correct, but nevertheless the traffic here really is amazing.  It makes you stop, drop your jaw and say "wow!"

A little context.  So the distance between my house and a nice shopping, restaurant and entertainment destination is 8.6 miles (between Taytay and BGC/The Fort).  So how long would you think is reasonable to travel that distance in a car?  Go ahead and guess.  Ironically that is the same distance from my parents house to the nearest gas station and grocery store.  A negligible distance that most of my life I never even thought twice of.  But here to travel that route in 45 minutes is great!  Growing up I allowed myself 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes if I wanted to give myself extra time, to travel that distance.  But here, if I travel that distance in 45 minutes the traffic is really moving and it is a great day for travel.  The problem is that sometimes it can easily take up to 2 hours to get there.  Allowing 2 hours is much safer if I don't want to be late.  But not always guaranteed, because there has been a handful of times that it has taken us 4 hours to travel that route.  (Don't try to compute how many miles per hour you are driving, it will only cause you anxiety.)

One factor that really changes the length of your travels is rain.  The presence of heavy rain easily doubles and even triples your drive time.  That is because when it is a heavy downpour certain streets and areas of town flood easily.  So it is often wise to keep an eye on storms and track their path, to make sure that you won't be caught in a downpour in a flood prone area.

Trying to navigate the roads during a heavy rain can easily get you stranded.  (Heavy rain is noted as more than 2 inches per hour.)  This report was posted as a public courtesy to alert drivers which roads to avoid because of flooding.  This is only one page of the six-paged report.

So it comes as no surprise that the president of the country is seeking to establish emergency powers to make decisions and changes about the traffic.  One headline by CNN Philippines: "Senate hears proposed traffic emergency powers for President Duterte."  By declaring the traffic of Manila a state of emergency, the president desires to be able to make changes and rulings about how the traffic should be.

One thing that is already in place to try and decrease traffic congestion is number coding.  Based on the last number of your license plate, every vehicle is prohibited from driving within the limits of Metro Manila on a certain weekday.  The last digit of our license plate is 2, which means our coding or no drive day is Mondays.  So on Mondays we cannot drive within Metro Manila unless we want to get a traffic ticket.

Before there used to be a window between morning rush hour and evening rush hour where even if it was your coding day, you could still drive around the city.  But just last week they removed the window and extended the coding from 7am to 7pm, and then starting next week it will be from 7am until 8pm.

There is even talk and a proposal about including a second coding day for every vehicle.  So instead of just one day a week, there will now be two days every week that you are unable to drive in Metro Manila.  Thankfully we live just outside of the city limits of Metro Manila, which means if we stay close to home the coding doesn't affect us.  Sorta like Santa Clarita to Los Angeles or Antelope Valley.  It is close enough to Los Angeles but not technically.  But close enough that you often need to travel into the city for work or otherwise.

All of this means ones needs to take great care and planning before they jump in their car to run an errand.  I have only ever heard one traffic report since moving here 2.5 years ago.  That doesn't mean they don't have regular traffic reports, just that I don't hear them often.  The traffic report went like this:

Radio DJ = "Okay now for the traffic...traffic is everywhere."

Ha ha!  That about sums it up!  Although there isn't much you can do, there are a few things you can check before leaving your house.  Although Google Maps is helpful to a certain extent, better yet is Waze App.  Waze is used by a lot of drivers here, so it gives you a better and more accurate picture of the traffic.  Being able to see which routes have gridlock allows you to wisely use the alternate routes to avoid getting stuck in one spot for an hour.  Also, Uber or Grab are also helpful when its your no drive day.  A little more expensive than a taxi, but probably the most convenient.  And of course there are also your public transportation options of buses, Jeepneys, taxis, and metros.

All of this makes the traffic here sound truly fascinating, am I right?!  And I haven't even gotten started with all of the road hazards and pedestrians.  ha ha... but that is for another post.  So please, come for a visit.  We'll pick you up from the airport and take you to our place.  But bring a book to read, as a safe estimate is 4 hours from the airport to our house, which is 9 miles away.  :)  But on a serious note, I hope this helps enable you to pray better for the ministry.  Every class, conference, and meeting that the men in the ministry take part of traffic plays a factor.