Plus side of traffic mess

To ordinary pedestrians, the daily commute in Metro Manila and other urban areas is a pain in the neck.

It’s no fun fighting for a seat in jampacked jeepneys or buses, or walking along elevated railroad tracks when MRT trains break down and passengers are ordered to disembark.

There are no rush hours to speak of any more. Except in the late evening or early morning, major streets are clogged with motor vehicles practically every hour of the day.

According to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, as of September 2018, the economic cost of Metro Manila’s traffic jam was P3.5 billion a day and this could go up to P5.4 billion daily by 2035 if the government does not undertake effective remedial measures.

The Department of Transportation and the Metro Manila Development Authority have come up with various measures to ease the traffic gridlock, but to no avail, at least for now.

Hopefully, when the new roadways and transportation facilities being constructed become operational, the daily commute would be reduced to reasonable levels.

What may be a bane for commuters and motorists is a “boon” to entrepreneurs who look at the traffic problem as something to live with and make money from.

Early this month, a company launched helicopter ride-sharing services where, for a few thousand pesos, people who want to beat the traffic and get to their appointments on time can be fetched from specific pickup points and flown to certain places in Metro Manila, Cavite and Pampanga.

Considering the cost of this service, only the well-heeled or people whose services are paid by the minute in five figures are expected to avail of it.

The aversion to go out and suffer traffic discomfort has given rise to the proliferation of delivery or logistic services companies. Unlike before when this business was limited to a few, now its operators are a dime a dozen.

If, for example, you want to eat your favorite comfort food at home, you can call up the restaurant or access its app and have your order brought to your place. For a minimal fee, or if your order reaches a certain cutoff price, your food would be delivered to you within a reasonable time.

The delivery charge more than compensates for the cost of the gasoline and hassle of driving to and from the restaurant.

A similar service is being provided by online stores for goods or products that can be purchased from them via their apps. But unlike food orders, the items are usually delivered after two or three days depending on the schedule of the delivery company.

Thanks to the traffic gridlock, minimally sized and affordable condominium units or housing facilities have been (and continue to be) built in areas close to commercial districts that employ many employees, such as business processing or call center companies.

These “halfway houses,” as they are sometimes called, spare their owners or lessees the inconvenience, stress and expense of commuting to and from their places of employment during work days. On weekends and long holidays, they can go back home and enjoy the company of their families or loved ones.

This housing scheme has become attractive too for students who want to live close to their schools so they can use the time they would otherwise spend on the road to their studies.

Real estate developers are laughing their way to the bank as they build, operate and maintain more housing facilities for people who do not want traffic jams to adversely affect their professional or academic lives.

This brings us to the question: Keeping our fingers crossed, if the government is able to solve Metro Manila’s traffic problem sometime in the future, what would happen to these structures?

That rosy development could be five or 10 years down the road, assuming it would happen. Until that day comes, the cash registers of the companies that have made lemonade out the traffic lemon would continue to ring.

As Norman Vincent Peale has said, in every adversity is the seed of greater or equal opportunity.