Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 11) — The Philippines has among the worst traffic situations in the world, data from online database Numbeo revealed.
In the website’s traffic index, the country garnered a score of 198.33, placing highest among six of 11 Southeast Asian countries included in the list. A higher score in the index means a worse traffic situation for the country.
The traffic index is a “composite index of time consumed in traffic due to job commute, estimation of time consumption dissatisfaction, CO2 consumption estimation in traffic and overall inefficiencies in the traffic system,” explained the website.
Indonesia trails the country closely at 195.80, followed by Thailand at 172, Malaysia at 169.33 and Singapore at 147.77. Vietnam, meanwhile, has the least horrible traffic state in the region, scoring 110.26 in the index.
In global terms, the Philippines managed to crack the top 10 countries worldwide with the worst traffic, placing 9th in the index with a score of 198.33. Colombia, which ranked 10th at 196.41, is less than two points away.
When asked about the country’s ranking, Malacañang said it is optimistic the Philippines will place lower eventually with major infrastructure projects hopefully reducing heavy traffic in the metro.
“Siguro po bababa na tayo ng ranking [Perhaps our ranking will go down],” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque during his briefing Monday, citing his pleasant experiences passing through the North Luzon Expressway – South Luzon Expressway (NLEx-SLEx) Connector road and NLEX Harbor Link.
“Alam mo itong mga imprastruktura pong ito, talaga naman pong magbabawas ng trapik dahil ang pinaka-trapik naman talaga, EDSA,” explained the official. “So ngayon po, di na kayo kinakailangan dumaan ng EDSA kung kayo po’y papunta ng norte lalong-lalo na sa North Luzon Expressway, noh.”
[Translations: You know these infrastructure will really reduce traffic, especially since EDSA has the heaviest traffic. Now you don’t need to pass through EDSA anymore if you’re heading north particularly through the North Luzon Expressway.]
Roque likewise thanked San Miguel Corporation for the said project. The diversified conglomerate partially opened in late December Skyway Stage 3, which connects both expressways, for free to motorists for a month.
The official further said that improving public infrastructre and mass transit is key to reducing traffic flow, citing ongoing projects like the Metro Manila subway and extensions of the Light Rail and Metro Trail Transit lines as examples.
Nigeria topped the traffic index worldwide with a score of 311.39, followed by Kenya at 277.72. Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, which held the top two spots in the Asia traffic index, followed both African countries with a score of 274.01 and 271.69, respectively.
Egypt came in fifth, with a score of 237.95. Iran, Peru and India held the sixth, seventh, and eighth spots in the index, scoring 216.09, 215.46 and 206.74, respectively.
