Traffic in the city is expected to continue to be a worsening problem as Baguio studies indicate a continued trend of increasing numbers of registered vehicles in its borders annually.
Current data from the city shows that there is an average annual increase in registered vehicles of around 8 percent. With the city’s roughly 64,000 vehicles, the city expects to hit the 70,000 registered vehicles mark by 2026.
The data also shows that 42 percent of all vehicles in the city are taxis, taking up the lion’s share of vehicles especially compared to public utility jeeps (PUJs), which only account for 8 percent of the vehicles in the city.
The number of taxis grew after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) approved the issuance of additional taxi franchises for Baguio in recent years..
According to Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, he wrote the LTFRB to question why the board had approved more taxi franchises, citing the lack of basis for the approval of franchises.
Magalong said that in order to address the traffic problem in the city, Baguio is looking to invest on improving its non-taxi mass transport and transport system efficiency.
“We cannot widen the roads forever. So we will have to improve what we already have, and increase our efficiency with smart urban mobility,” Magalong said.
