Team starts ‘soft implementation’ of new Maguikay flyover scheme

A screenshot of the Maguikay flyover via Google Maps.

CEBU CITY, Philippine — The Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) started Wednesday morning, November 20, 2019, the implementation of the new traffic scheme for public utility jeepneys (PUJs) at the Maguikay flyover here.

Under the new scheme, all PUJs are no longer allowed to pass at the flyover and instead, occupy the right lanes beside it.

Read: No more PUJs allowed in Maguikay flyover starting Nov. 20

Watch the CDN Digital Live situationer report here:

https://www.facebook.com/cdndigital/videos/2457764034493545/

Mandaue City Traffic Czar Architect Florentino Nimor said that with this scheme, vehicles from the two-lane M.C. Briones Street won’t have to merge into one lane when they approach the flyover.

A traffic sign was already installed at the foot of the flyover saying “ALL PUJs KEEP RIGHT ONLY.”

But some drivers neglected the sign and still proceeded with passing on the flyover.

Edmundo Cuajao, who is driving PUJ with a Liloan-Mandaue route, was worried that he could no longer pick up passengers going to a mall in A.S. Fortuna.

Cuajao, 53, added that he was confused with the new scheme.

“Karon ra ko nakahibawo. Ang uban pod driver karon lang nakahibawo. Gubot gyud ning sitwasyona kay naandan na man ni sa mga driver gyud nga mosaka,” said PUJ driver Edmundo Cuajao.

(We just knew about this. Other drivers also just found about this just now. It is a confusing situation because drivers are already used to use the flyover.)

But Architect Florentino Nimor, the chief of Team, said PUJ drivers can still proceed to their usual routes, except that they won’t be allowed to pass through the flyover anymore.

Nimor said he has already deployed Team members in the vicinity of the area to guide the motorists during their “soft implementation” of the new scheme.

“We will implement it gradually and we will be flexible,” Nimor told CDN Digital in an interview.

Nimor said they are hoping that drivers will get used to the new scheme within a week’s time.

Aside from avoiding the merger of traffic into the one-lane flyover, the traffic czar said the new scheme will spare the drivers from having to frequently change lanes.

In the previous setup, when the PUJs loaad or unload passengers in the nearby designated stops, they will need to transfer again to the inner lane to go to the flyover, causing a bottle neck near the foot of the flyover. /bmjo