00:00To tell us more about how traffic will be managed during the holiday shopping rush,
00:04we are now joined via a phone patch by James Deacon, automotive journalist.
00:10Good evening, sir. This is J7 from PTV News Tonight.
00:13Hi, good evening, and thanks for having me here.
00:16Yes, sir. Let's go to the first question.
00:18Every Christmas rush feels heavier than the last.
00:21What do you think is the difference of traffic this year compared to the previous ones?
00:26Well, I think we've sold a lot more cars again this year.
00:30So we are adding more cars. We're not necessarily subtracting any.
00:34We've also seen development still continue, condos being handed over, economies showing signs of recovery.
00:41So 13th month pay, of course. That all adds up, you know.
00:46Even also the malls have started holiday promotions as early as October.
00:50So these things create a little bit of a origin effect, I guess.
00:55And, yeah, especially the mall-wide sales.
00:59What do you think that has such a big impact on traffic, especially in weekdays?
01:06Yes, well, of course.
01:07That's going to have a tremendous effect, and people are always looking to save.
01:12You can't blame them.
01:13It's a season also for shopping, and the malls take advantage of it.
01:18I think what happens here are there's conflicting interests involved.
01:22So, you know, people always talk about the malls having sales.
01:25Well, that's the business that they're engaged in.
01:27You know, that is what their whole goal is, to sell more items to more people,
01:32and it conflicts completely with a traffic plan.
01:34So it's very, very difficult for them to regulate because they're actually competing
01:40and conflicting their own interests as well.
01:42But, yes, definitely this will have a tremendous impact on the shoppers by having mall-wide sales.
01:49The delivery trucks are also increasing as well because they have to replenish the items.
01:54And you have limited parking as well.
01:56That often surges.
01:58So these spill out to the normal roads that people are still circling around the mall looking for parking.
02:02All of this adds up again.
02:05And when malls are submitting traffic management plans, what are you really looking for in these proposals?
02:13This can get a little tricky because, you know, this feels a little bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
02:20because, really, it's the volume that's the problem.
02:24But if you are going to look at certain elements, you want to look at the parking situation.
02:28Do you have any off-site parking, any overflow?
02:31Do you have a shuttle service?
02:34Do you have a staggered entry and exit?
02:35Or are you just controlling the flow or opening all your gates?
02:39Do you have any public transportation?
02:42Delivery schedules.
02:43Perhaps they can have you restricted your truck drivers delivering during the peak hours.
02:48And, of course, do you still have emergency access for buyers, for ambulances, et cetera.
02:53So these are things that they can probably help coordinate.
02:56But I don't see how much big of a difference it's going to make when the volume is not being addressed.
03:03Sir, let's go to some of the lessons we've learned from the recent traffic congestion that happened in Marcos Highway a couple of weeks ago.
03:11And what do you think, what can we do, like, when it comes to early coordination to prevent such gridlock?
03:19Again, you know, the early coordination can only do so much.
03:24But you can probably learn some things from capacity modeling.
03:28We need better predictions of actual turnout versus parking capacity.
03:32We can improve those models, perhaps.
03:34A real-time adjustment.
03:36You know, when parking malls get full, that creates a really – the effect just gets worse around the corner.
03:44So it ends up spilling back onto private roads or public roads, should I say.
03:49So that also has to be adjusted as well.
03:53And public communication.
03:55Make sure that everybody's in sync.
03:56Everybody knows that you're having a sale and don't coordinate anything else.
03:59Don't have anything else at the same time.
04:03So talking about communication, sir, so how can mall operators, local governments, and even traffic authorities work better together during the peak shopping days?
04:14Well, they can definitely start with a shared calendar.
04:19Definitely that's a major thing where you can coordinate their days in advance.
04:25And nobody has the simultaneous things happening at the same time.
04:28Maybe you can have joint command centers.
04:30You can have real-time data sharing.
04:33Parking occupancy can be visible to everybody.
04:37Maybe that will help.
04:39Unified messaging.
04:40You know, you have, let's say, one designated place where you get the truth for traffic or the source for traffic instead of all these other multiple apps.
04:49And I guess that, if we go back to incentive alignment, the malls benefit when the traffic actually flows, and we don't benefit from that, or the traffic enforcers don't benefit from that.
05:02So you do have those conflicting interest points.
05:04And we know that this weekend is going to be the last weekend before Christmas.
05:09What, for the motorists and commuters, what are the best ways to plan ahead to reduce holiday travel stress?
05:17What can you recommend?
05:18Well, if you could stay at home and just do online shopping, that would obviously be the best thing to do right now.
05:26But we understand that people have to move around.
05:29But you can actually plan your alternative routes.
05:33So don't just have one way to get there if possible.
05:36Know if you have two or three different ways so that you can be ready to pivot.
05:41Budget your time.
05:42Okay?
05:42You can do this.
05:43Double your normal travel time during the sale periods.
05:47Allow for double.
05:48And if you get there early, just be grateful for that.
05:51Consider public transport.
05:52Sometimes this can be also congested, but it might be more predictable.
05:57So you might consider that, too.
06:00And, again, leave earlier than normal.
06:03Just leave yourself a lot of allowances.
06:05Have your load and beep cars ready, of course, in line at the ticket counters if you're commuting.
06:11And consider walking, if you can, between nearby destinations rather than just taking transport everywhere.
06:16The best way to avoid traffic is to, best way to beat traffic is to avoid it.
06:22So shop when everyone else is sleeping or working.
06:25Okay.
06:25Thank you very much for that insight, sir.
06:27That is automotive journalist, Mr. James Deacon.
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