The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Friday, January 19, questioned the international study tagging Metro Manila having the worst traffic among 387 metro areas worldwide.

A study by the TomTom Traffic Index revealed that Metro Manila’s traffic consumed an average travel time of 25 minutes and 30 seconds per 10 kilometers last year, making Filipinos who traverse the area lose 117 hours during rush hour.

“We want to know the methodology employed. If there is an actual count and when did they conduct the study,” MMDA chair Romando Artes said in a press conference.

According to Artes, their data showed that EDSA remained the capital’s busiest road while the study branded Quezon Avenue as the busiest street.

“With this alone, we can see that there is a difference between our data and TomTom's. Quezon Avenue is only the third busiest road per our data,” he said.

The MMDA chief admitted the traffic congestion in the metro, but attributed it to factors such as vehicle volume, lane blockages, diggings and road repairs, ongoing construction of government flagship infrastructure projects, road configuration and conditions, and suspension of the No Contact Apprehension Policy.

Artes said the agency has been conducting initiatives to reduce the traffic congestion in Metro Manila and studying proposed EDSA elevated walkways and subway or underground trains.

“Ito po ay inaaral ng kasalukuyang administrasyon. Kami po ay gagawa ng paraan, magtutulong-tulong kami ng iba’t ibang ahensiya ng pamahalaan para i-address ito at huwag nang mag-worsen, at eventually, mabawasan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation said it would fast-track its road transportation infrastructure projects following Metro Manila’s traffic dubbed as worst globally.