DOTr chief: More roads won’t solve metro traffic, mass transit needed

February 21, 2025 | 4:29pm

MANILA, Philippines — Newly appointed Transport Secretary Vince Dizon aims to move away from a car-centric metro, saying that developing mass transport systems is crucial to addressing the country’s traffic woes.

Dizon took his oath as the new Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary on Friday, February 21, after his predecessor Jaime Bautista resigned.

During a press briefing, Dizon addressed criticisms of metropolitan areas being too car-centric.

“In the past, the solution to traffic has always [to] build roads, the problem with building roads is that building roads attracts more cars,” Dizon said in a press briefing in Malacañan Palace. 

“We have to veer away from that and I think we are bearing away from that and that is what the President wants,” he added.

Dizon said that an efficient, high-capacity mass transit system is the “ultimate solution” to the traffic problem, rather than building new roads.

He also cited the importance of making cities more walkable, noting that measures like expanding covered walkways would help improve urban mobility.

“How can they walk, when there is no infrastructure that allow them to walk?” Dizon said. 

Several of the country’s metropolitan areas have been labeled as having the worst traffic in the world. Dizon acknowledged that there is no quick fix to the traffic problem but emphasized that the key solution lies in improving public transportation.

Once the mass transit system is enhanced, he believes people will no longer feel the need to rely on cars.

However, the issue with Metro Manila is that there are too many cars and too many people.

“Limitado ang kalye mo, padami nang padami ang tao, padami nang padami ang sasakyan, hindi ka naman maka-expand ng kalye. So hindi madaling solusyunan iyan,” Dizon said. 

(Your streets are limited, but the population keeps increasing. It is not easy to solve immediately.) 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order to Dizon was to fast-track the ongoing transport infrastructure, which includes the Metro Manila Subway, as well as the North–South Commuter Railway. Dizon said that as those solutions persist, several measures can be implemented. 

One of them was to make the EDSA Carousel more efficient by having a set timetable. 

“Ang bus ay hindi iyan puwedeng huminto diyan ng lima hanggang sampung minuto sa bus stop, bawal iyon. At most, 30 seconds lang iyan kasi kailangan responsibilidad ng commuter na nandoon on time,” he said. 

(The bus cannot stop for five to ten minutes in the bus stop, it is not allowed, at most it should be 30 seconds because it is the responsibility of the commuter to be there on time.) 

The new Transport Secretary's term comes at the midway point of the Marcos administration. Barring a change of leadership at the DOTR, Dizon will have only three years to implement changes or projects. However, he acknowledged that traffic would not be resolved within the current administration.

“We’re not going to fix in three years. We just to accept that we’re not gonna fix traffic in five years, maybe not even in 10 years. But we can do some things now to slowly, alleviate the commuter and the motorist experience,” the transport chief said.