The Traffic Way Home

The van ride went smooth and swift from Legazpi to Naga. I actually slept with the afternoon sun baking me through the window, which would be interrupted by bumping and shaking when we would cross over uneven roads. (Why don’t they fix these roads?)But that direct trip was put on a standstill when we reached diversion Road, a section near Robinson’s Place. Any movement was at a snail’s pace. We were practically crawling through while locked between almost stationary cars. Someone in the van with me remarked that walking would be faster. The jeepney ride downtown similarly sauntered as if it was Penafrancia Fiesta. There were parts where the jeep could manage to move a bit faster, but would helplessly slow down again because the road would be crowded with non-moving vehicles. Even the tricycle ride which would bring me nearer to home moved at a similarly slow pace. I noticed that traffic would move quicker after getting through an intersection, then slow down again; struggling to get through another busy intersection. It’s these intersecting cars that clog the traffic. Maybe, that’s my perspective. Maybe, on the side of the commuters going on the perpendicular direction, it’s us that causing this slow jam.

I was getting restless. Shouldn’t the streets get less busier when you get closer to home? My butt was burning from sitting too long. I finally came to my stop for my pedicab ride straight to my door and even in that minor street, traffic was heavy with cars. What’s happening? Is everyone doing some early Christmas shopping? If traffic is this messed up now, how would it be on the days before 24 and 31? Something has to be done.

Is there anything that can be done? Maybe, there’s just too many cars going about on too few and too narrow streets. If you pour so much water on a small cup, of course, water will spill out. The cup would not be able to handle it. Well, we can’t do something to make the cup bigger, but we could regulate the amount of water we pour on it.

Maybe, that’s it. Okay, listen up. Those of you who don’t want to go downtown in the city, hands up and you could be the water that does not go to the cup so it doesn’t spill. Okay, no one’s raising their hand. I guess, everyone has some good reason to dip into the cup. I mean, everyone has to run an errand, come home from work or school, or go to work or school, and there’s simply just too many of us.

In my reflections and contemplations in the middle of a long time of not getting a ride, and getting stuck in heavy traffic after finally getting a ride, I decide to send myself a memo to avoid those streets at that time of the day next time. But which ones do I avoid? That was practically all over downtown. If I choose to go to a less busier street on a particular time of a day, I would have to helplessly cross the very busy parts of the city to get there anyway. Then, I would be riding in another cog that clogs the machine. Maybe, I should have gotten off the van before the traffic heavy roads, then just hitched a ride from the less busy street to go downtown. But, I guess, at some point, I would still get stuck because my jeepney ride would go the route that follows the busy streets. Maybe, if I had my own car, I could go through the residential back roads to avoid the crowd of cars. But even if I do that, I would still turn up in some busy street which would suspend my vehicle’s movement. Furthermore, would not going through alternate routes prolong my travel time?

What else can we do? Maybe, we could all go home from school and work earlier? Maybe, that would help. I think that would do the trick. Maybe, schools can have in-person classes in the morning, and have remote learning in the afternoon, or the other way around. Maybe workplaces can have physical reporting in the morning and have work-at-home in the afternoon, or the other way around. Okay now, raise your hands if you want that. I know that the students would want that. But you have to go straight home and don’t crowd the malls. I’m not too sure if the bosses are up to that. Come on, we need unconventional solutions for unconventional situations.

Matthew 6:34: “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”