Congressmen have, in the past, repeatedly filed bills that would ban the purchase of private vehicles unless prospective car-owners can prove that they have space to park them.
Unfortunately, such measures have apparently never made it past the plenary level. The simple reason is that not only are such measures unpopular with car dealerships and manufacturers who would see a drop in car sales, but they are also unpopular with car buyers who have to resort to driving their own vehicle as an alternative to a chaotic mass transport system in Mega Manila.
Consider this: year-on-year sales of automotive vehicles in September 2024 increased by 2.4 percent to 39,542 units from 38,628 units in the same month in 2023, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) reported last September. (I’ve already pointed this out in my column a few times before, but please bear me out, as this will be relevant to my topic for this week.)
Unfortunately, most residential and even commercial spaces now being built are usually designed without adequate spaces for cars, particularly those designed for lower-middle class families.
And this is where the trouble comes in – what if, due to “moving up” in life, those families decide to get their own cars?
With no space for their cars, most families end up parking their vehicles not just along the pavement (another issue I’ve pointed out in my column), but along the streets themselves.
The result: even gated subdivisions are now experiencing traffic jams!
-o0o-
Take, for example, our own street at a subdivision in San Pedro City. When I was growing up in the early 2000’s, car space wasn’t really a problem, since almost everybody in our neighborhood commuted to work.
Today, however, half our street has been converted into an informal parking area as more and more residents – my family included – got their own cars.
To top it off, every Sunday, worshippers from two homegrown Christian churches near our house use not only our street but the nearby main thoroughfare to another large subdivision as their own parking space.
The result: our street has become the venue for a virtual game of “Trip to Jerusalem” as cars vie for space in our increasingly-crowded street (which was, unfortunately, gated off in the middle).
My older sister had become very edgy when going to church early on Sundays as, if she didn’t come home by 7:30 a.m., chances are another car would occupy our own space in the already crowded street.
And we all know how Filipino drivers can sometimes be “balahura” in parking their cars (I’ve encountered a post in the Facebook page “Parkeserye” where one car-owner had the audacity to use his neighbor’s garage to park his own vehicle – my God, isn’t that tantamount to trespassing?).
Look, I’ve been advocating for an efficient mass-transport system to solve our over-dependence on private cars, but I know such projects now under construction in Metro Manila and elsewhere won’t be realized in another five years or so.
But maybe, just maybe, could our government control the purchase of private vehicles to ensure that our streets should become “equal spaces” for vehicles and pedestrians alike?
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