By Jessie Caballero
Roxas City is changing and changing fast. Once known for its relaxed pace and breezy coastal charm, it is now starting to feel the weight of progress on its roads. The culprit? A growing traffic problem that, while still manageable today, threatens to become a permanent headache tomorrow if the city government doesn’t act now.
Anyone who has driven through the city’s main roads during rush hour knows what I mean. Just last week, I fetched a friend after office hours and found myself trapped in a slow-moving sea of tricycles, private vehicles, and pedestrian uses all competing for the same narrow lanes.
What should have been a ten-minute trip turned into a frustrating crawl. It wasn’t an accident or a festival causing the delay—it was simply too many vehicles squeezed into too little space, with no real traffic flow strategy in sight.
Let’s be honest: tricycles are the backbone of Roxas City’s transportation system. They provide affordable rides and reach areas that bigger vehicles can’t. But our dependence on them, without proper regulation or road planning, is creating gridlock in areas that were never designed to handle such volume. This isn’t about pointing fingers at drivers—it’s about acknowledging that the current system is unsustainable.
The city government cannot afford to take a wait-and-see approach. Traffic problems don’t disappear on their own—they get worse.
We need proactive, not reactive, measures:
– Regulate tricycle routes and numbers on main roads to prevent bottlenecks.
– Implement one-way schemes in high-congested areas during peak hours.
– Create designated loading and unloading zones so vehicles don’t block traffic.
– Expand and maintain road networks to keep pace with the city’s growth.
– Explore alternative public transport options that complement, not compete with, tricycles.
Every minute wasted in traffic is a minute lost from productivity, a peso lost in fuel, and a dent in our quality of life.
Worse, prolonged congestion can hurt tourism—one of Roxas City’s pride industries. Visitors won’t come back if getting from point A to point B feels like a punishment.
We have the advantage of foresight. Other cities waited too long and are now spending billions to fix mistakes they could have prevented.
Roxas City still has time to avoid that fate—but only if our leaders treat this as a priority now.
Traffic is not just an inconvenience. It’s a sign. And right now, it’s telling us—Act before it’s too late!
