Group 12

Punzalan, Mark Eidelle

Quimson, Jay Christian D.
Ramos, Symon Kim C.

Traffic Congestion a Major Cause of Economic Losses

Traffic Congestion causes the country to lose billions of peso each year. Losing billions of peso
each year is a big amount that affects the country and its people. This have been justified to be true by
several organizations, and people of credible positions in the country. The list of the reasons presented in
this thesis have laid out the proofs that traffic is indeed a major cause of economic loss for the country.
This list includes the ff. that are presented in this thesis paper: Traffic congestion lessens human
productivity; Traffic congestion affects delivery commitments; Traffic congestion affects operational
management of businesses; Traffic congestion affects energy consumption; Traffic congestion affects
tourism; Traffic congestion results to delayed construction of infrastructures; Port congestion affects
growth of economy; Traffic congestion is accompanied with road accidents; Traffic congestion leads to
several maintenance of public transport systems; Approach in minimizing traffic congestions leads to a
big debt. All these factors truly affect the economy of the country causing billion pesos of losses each year
and causes a continuous influx of losses which inflates as time goes on.

This is thesis paper not only shows the traffic congestion as major cause of economic losses for
the country, but also the complex series of problems that arise due to traffic. Correlating each of the
factors stating that traffic indeed causes economic losses, it can be seen that several of these are
interrelated or a subsequent result of another factor. A clear example of this is shown between traffic
congestion, delay of delivery and changes in operations of a company. Traffic congestion causes the delay
of deliveries which in turn results to losses for the manufacturing company. The losses incurred when
stacked will give a big amount of money lost due to delivery. This forces the companies to change tactics
or operations in a way that the companies their selves try to perform operations adapted for the
problematic traffic that exists. This changes also cost losses aside from the initial losses due to delays in
deliveries. This only shows that several factors do affect each other and also leads to a greater economic
loss for the country. These stacking of losses stems out from traffic congestion.

The losses incurred to the country leads to several distinguished people and organizations to act
out. Several studies have been implemented, and upon careful analysis, a few solutions are actively being
implement at the present time. A few suggestions are given to improve the approach in dealing traffic
congestion. According to Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, the Aquino administration should be
addressing the horrible traffic conditions in Metro Manila have been adversely affecting tourist arrivals
for the past five years. Meanwhile, according to Oxford Business Group, Long-term solutions projects for
Manila’s existing metro rail transit (MRT) and light rail transit (LRT) systems are urgently needed.
Furthermore, in a statement made by Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade, he said part of the basket of
solutions to address the traffic problem in Metro Manila is to build infrastructure. These are all
suggestions towards solving or atleast will minimize traffic congestion in the country. When these
suggestions are heeded, it will surely affect the economy of the country in the good direction.