Success Story of a Public-Private Partnership: TV5 MMDA Metro Manila Traffic Navigator

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino discusses something to Ms. Luchi Cruz Valdez over dinner at the Shangrila Edsa Plaza Hotel Palawan Ballroom.

When PNOY (last year's SONA) called for corporations to work together with the government one of the first to heed his call was TV5. For starters they never thought of anything like this in the beginning. After brainstorming one lonely night they noticed some of the traffic updates that MMDA had on their whiteboard; what's funny was they kept on erasing this valuable data. Minds met and they did the next obvious thing. They digitized this information and got it online. Now this valuable information is available and has been helping thousands of Filipino commuters in the metro!

Paolo Bediones and Cheri Mercado hosted the event!

Now ranked in the top 10 most visited sites in the country, the TV5 MMDA Metro Manila Traffic Navigation site was launched formally this August 1st, 2011. TV5 Executives, MMDA Government Officials and the media were there to witness a momentous event in Philippine history. Only a few hundred thousand pesos of tax payers and private funds were used to set this all up which I think is ingenious even if MMDA was poorly funded this year. They used it wisely on information technologies perfectly designed and executed for the local Philippine transportation scene. They thought of the commuters and the people behind the wheel. I couldn't be more happier when I used it that time!

True enough, I had to leave the event a little early than usual because I had to rush back to the office. I gave this a shot and saw that C5 was a little better than EDSA. I got to Eastwood without a hitch even if my cab driver was on a snails pace. The information was real time so I already knew the situation before I went there. It's practical and ingenious I wish I had thought of that!

Mr. Roby Alampay told the audience about when and how it started. It was really a meeting of the minds between them and the people at MMDA. Today they can tell more than just the traffic situation. They have a database that an later on be used for trending, metrics and what not. This is valuable information that wasn't used before this project came about.

Mr. Carlo Ople demonstrated how the iphone and IPAD app would work. He showed more than just the actual system view available on the web. The latest headlines they have for INTERAKSYON one of the flagship news programs under TV5 were also seen in the application. You can even save it for offline reading. It had a pretty nice interface too.

Ms. Luchi Cruz-Valdez said that it has always been the goal of TV5 to bring information to the people. They have been doing this already with their other programs and assures their news and current affairs programs via pushing information to the applications will deliver just that!

Check out their website http://mmdatraffic.interaksyon.com for the latest traffic updates in Metro Manila. Major roads are currently in the system but they will have more later on this year once upgrades are done. To TV5, MMDA and the Filipino People congratulations! This is the best news I've ever heard this year!


PS

Thanks to Nuffnang for hooking me up on this event!



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