New AGS Traffic Scheme
the AGS will implement a new traffic scheme on june 8. we are starting this page to get all the comments and suggestions from parents who will start experiencing the new traffic scheme themselves.
read the whole scheme from this blog here: http://bit.ly/6rRVE
highlights of the scheme are:
- staggered dismissal times for grade schoolers. we think this is the most major change that they will implement this year. it is however not really a traffic scheme per se but a way of managing loads of children at dismissal time.
- from the standpoint of traffic flow design and physical layout changes, very little have been done. the most major change, which is actually very minor is that cars will now be allowed to enter the grade school campus driveway to pick up students and exit the other way.
- the new traffic scheme emphasizes crossing to be allowed only on zebra lines. this will need a lot of traffic enforcers to make sure it is followed.
- parking lines at the parking lots have been placed. this will help ensure cars park properly and optimizes the areas.
click here to view the photo gallery of effect of the new AGS traffic scheme : http://wawam.wordpress.com/new-ags-traffic-scheme-comments-suggestions/photo-gallery-of-new-ags-traffic-scheme/
vicinity map
FOR ALL PEDESTRIAN WALKPATH
DRIVERS ROUTE
Exit route for students who take the school service
pick up routes of prep and grade 1 students
DRIVE AND CURBSIDE LOADING GR 2-7
————————
there is an alternate traffic scheme that was submitted by a group of professionals on design and safety to the multi-stakeholder committee but this was ignored by it.
read about it here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/the-traffic-scheme-that-ags-ignored/
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post your comments, reactions or suggestions on the new AGS traffic scheme here. leave a reply.
this was posted by “ateneo doesn’t care” in this post: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/a-covered-parking-lot-for-teachers-at-the-ags-amiel-alcantaras-death-aftermath/#comment-1283
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Hi Wawam,
Despite our appeals to Ateneo to do something RADICAL, it looks like they have chosen to implement something MARGINAL.
I downloaded and studied the staggered dismissal schedules that Ateneo Grade School posted on their website. Loooks to me like there is a typographical error in the post, because my Grade 4 son commented that Grades 6 and 7 will spend less time in school than Grades 4 and 5. He commented that it was unfair to him that his brother in Grade 7 will get away with less hours in school.
Either he is right or the posted schedule is wrong. Taking a look at the schedule, it can only be correct if they removed the period either for Intramurals or Co-Curricular Activity from the schedule for Grades 6 and 7. Please validate.
Given that the success of the scheme is hinged on fetchers picking up the boys on a staggered basis, Ateneo has to ensure that fetchers know what the correct dismissal schedule is. Relaying unverified or inaccurate information will turn the entire Katipunan into a traffic nightware, don’t you think?
I am disaapointed in the solution being presented now. I had hoped for a better quality solution. It seems to me that the Multi-Stakeholder Committee created their solution in a vacuum, ignoring all the comments and suggestions of well-meaning parents.
Oh well . . . we won’t know anything until we give the scheme a try.
i agree it’s a marginal change and not the radical change that parents were asking for. in fact, i dont really see much change.
the issue that ateneo was supposed to solve is safety at the parking lot. ateneo did not do anything to that parking lot to improve safety. i am sure if they consulted experts they would recommend doing some structural to the parking lot.
your son’s observation that grades 6 & 7 will spend less time in school than grades 4 & 5 just might be an oversight. let’s hope ateneo sees this.
the “improvement” on the traffic sheme, if you can call it that, actually relies mainly on the staggered dismissal time scheme.
this new traffic scheme does not seem to improve safety. so it will be just like before, even the traffic
This is actually a very dangerous scheme.
1. There are 5 pedestrian crossings that mix vehicles and children.
2. The reverse U-Turn in the DRIVERS ROUTE diagram is unconventional and is prone to causing accidents. Notice the flow going to B1. This was obviously not designed by professionals familiar with traffic management and safety standards.
Our concerns have fallen on deaf ears with Ateneo-AGS. When will they begin to take this matter of child safety seriously!!
traffic at the ateneo parking lot today was a total killer! what kind of traffic scheme is this new traffic scheme?!!!
who developed this traffic scheme?
manolet
The traffic scheme being implemented starting today was developed and imposed by a multi-stakeholder committee led by Mr. John Paul Vergara who is the acting Vice President for Administration and Planning. He may be reached at jpvergara@ateneo.edu in case you may have some constructive suggestions to make regarding the current state of safety and traffic management in the grade school and in the Ateneo campus in general.
Good luck though.
it was crazy today at the ateneo grade school. it will be hell on wednesday when all the grades go to school!
I’m not a traffic expert but the new scheme is a joke.parang mas sumikip.and why oh why is the faculty parking still there………
very minor and negligible changes were made on this “new” traffic scheme compared to the one that got amiel killed in that parking lot.
and yes the teacher’s parking lot still being there is a big question. removing the teacher’s parking lot is one of the things that parents are unanimous on.
here is a suggestion on what to do with the teachers parking lot: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/a-covered-parking-lot-for-teachers-at-the-ags-amiel-alcantaras-death-aftermath/
here is a traffic scheme proposed by professionals on design and traffic: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/the-traffic-scheme-that-ags-ignored/
for me, the biggest indication that ateneo is not serious about changing things at the parking to keep our sons safe at that parking is lot is this – they did not transfer the teacher’s reserved parking lot.
nakaharang yung teachers parking lot sa traffic flow.
it’s like a time-machine: i am suddenly brought back to the late 60′s. ateneo college department only had less than a thousand student population. my classmate, a college senior drove thru the main gate, near the gym, towards the college department, he got into a traffic argument with a high school student…there were harsh words exchanged… thus a challenge to fight to death. each group met at a & w cubao, now farmers-both groups were armed to the teeth. there was death in the high school group. the college student with ateneo grad kuya were sentenced and languished in munti-such a waste. even a classmate hitch-hiker wasn’t spared. he was expelled though he wasn’t party to the fracas. he didn’t accept what happened to him and ultimately ended his life years later–a suicide. something which could have been avoided if we only live out our christianity. yes we bashed the heads of la salle in those days–maybe even up to now. do we live up to Jesus’ command to love? i think this is where the high and mighty jesuits fail. they can’t teach love. baka naman wala sila nun-they only have excellence? compassion? ay wala sila nun. if they feel they are right they just do it their way…never mind if you were just an innocent hitch-hiker.
even the best laid plan for traffic will be for naught if we don’t have humility. when all of us are numero uno and above the law. dahil ba anak ng big shot? siguro konting bigayan from a humble atenean? sorry but my family doesn’t believe i can be a humble one
nothing of that sort happened here. amiel with his siblings and a yaya were returning to their parked car when a van driven by an ateneo mom came at high speed and pinned down amiel to the back of a CRV.
I just came from fetching my grade 6 son. I’m sorry to report that AGS’s information drive contains some very basic MISinformation.
1. Drivers were prevented from entering Gate 1.
2. They were allowing drivers to exit Gate 1, which is not supposed to allowed according to their map.
3. The map said that drivers were allowed to turn left in front of the point “SP” toward point “A” on the map toward the inner driveway. We were prevented from doing so.
4. (And this is the biggest mistake, in my opinion) They were still allowing drivers to exit parking lot P1 to cross the path of vehicles entering Gate 2. The map is silent on this, but I had hoped that since I was being prevented from entering Gate 1, they’d at least be funneling vehicles from parking P1 out through Gate 1 to stop the insane congestion at Gate 2. This congestion leads to traffic all the way to Marikina and Kamias.
Day 1 and I knew it would be confusing but their misinformation made matters worse.
Inside the AGS area, it was much better, free flowing yet safer. Please work out the kinks, getting to the AGS.
Thanks
yes there were errors in the guidelines they released. it got me all confused. i hope they fix the problems.
traffic outside the ateneo was horrendous.
there is something wrong in the way the whole thing is designed. i think the new traffic scheme is causing a lot of traffic outside of the campus. it took me much longer to get into the campus and the back up of traffic outside ateneo was horrendous.
vehicles are now not allowed to park and wait for kids at area beside the blue eagle’s gym where amiel had the accident and beside the irwin theater.
no parking areas were added from last year, where will these cars park now?
parking areas were not enough for all the cars at the AGS last year even when they allowed the cars to park in those areas. how will all these cars fit into the same area when they have not alloted new parking areas?
it was also difficult to get out of campus. the main roads are all clogged up trying to get out.
not sure if this is an improvement from previous.
why did they put those yellow cemented parking guide in front of irwin ?sumikip lang hindi naman lumuwag.and once more with feelings: why is the teachers parking lot still there when there is so much space to transfer it down there near the observatory at the back of the AGS caf.
though dumami guards….
and traffic outside campus is incredible….wala pa AHS……
I am looking at the Driver’s route map issued by the school through my Gr. 5 son and indeed based from my experience this past 3 days during dismissal, those yellow parking guides at P7 are obstructing the flow of cars. I understand that this area is being used as exclusive parking for Gr. 1 fetchers but it is definitely an obstruction & a design flaw which may even cause damage to cars passing through P7. I think those yellow parking guides are not necessary for that space.
Overall the new traffic scheme answers the safety issue to a certain degree but has caused massive traffic along Masterson Drive and other roads surrounding the Blue Eagle Gym except for the driveway fronting the B1-B3 pick up/drop off points. I think the B1-B3 area is under utilized as a pick up/drop off point because it now serves as the driveway where cars exit from the inner driveway.
There is still much to be desired from the new scheme. I guess many parents and students have had more stressful mornings now than last schoolyear due to the heavier traffic going to AGS. The concern regarding heavier traffic now is another issue that must also be addressed as it does not only affect the Ateneo community as a whole but also the motorists outside the school who are equally affected negatively by the new scheme.
today was a total mess —- it took me a long time to get in and get out of ateneo. i don’t understand why the school will impelement a traffic scheme that solves a bit of a problem in some but creates huge problems in others. i can’t believe anyone will design a traffic scheme such as this.
the letter from the school traffic flow was “thouroughly monitored and meticulously studied” – and yet this is the outcome? what kind of study did they do? the school should let parents know the results of these studies. it is a shame that the school’s “thorough” and “meticulous” studying over 4 months comes out with a failed traffic scheme such as this.
and yes, why in the world is the reserved parking spaces for teachers and staff still there? does this indicate what the priorities are of the school? convenience for trachers over safety for kids and efficiency for parents?
who designed this traffic scheme? it’s really not much of a scheme.
posted in a yahoogroup of ateneo parents:
posted in a yahoogroup for ateneo parents:
i am really inclined to believe that it was not a “multisectoral” study after all….
brace yourselves for next monday classes.
goes back to the question – who designed this traffic scheme?
one of the most major complaint of parents and that goes for many years already is that there is not enough parking spaces for all the cars that fetch grade school children, in fact even for the whole campus.
ateneo has not done anything to address that. unless they do, no kind of traffic scheme will solve things. a problem of space is a problem of space, there is no going around it nor can it be swept under the rug.
posted in a yahoogroup of ateneo parents:
posted in yahoogroup of atenro parents:
this was posted at a yahoogroup for ateneo parents, in reference to yesterday’s (thursday, june 18) monstrous traffic jan at katipiunan road.
the question was answered today. there are two of them, not just one:
MMDA mulls moving U-turn slots on Katipunan
By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:42:00 06/19/2009
MANILA, Philippines—To ease the perennial gridlock on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) may soon move its two U-turn slots away from the gates of schools in the area.
MMDA General Manager Robert Nacianceno, who inspected the area on Thursday with MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando, said they were studying their options while coordinating with officials of Miriam College and Ateneo de Manila University.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20090619-211291/MMDA-mulls-moving-U-turn-slots-on-Katipunan
posted at yahoogroup for ateneo parents.
posted in a yahoogroup of ateneo parents.
posted in a yahoogroup of ateneo parents.
posted in a yahoogroup of ateneo parents.
i am horrified thinking what will happen to the traffic situation when AHS goes to school on monday.
traffic – going in and out of ateneo has gotten much worse than before. its not just a few minutes, but a significant time delay.
it feels like the people who thought of the new traffic scheme thought only of what they will do in front of the AGS but did not look at the rest of the traffic situation.
it is very ill-conceived and not well thought out. i do not think ateneo consulted professionals on this matter.
1. add more parking spaces. this is one of the strongest complaint that parents are unanimous on – the campus does not have enough parking spaces. the new traffic scheme highlights this key problem even more. no new parking spaces were created versus last year. the problem remains and now we see this more pronounced.
cars that used to be parked in the side of irwin theater and that area where amiel died are now all crammed into the parking spaces beside the football fields – they are now double parked on both sides of the road.
2. remove traffic situations where vehicles cross each other’s paths. this is what is causing the bumper to bumper traffic inside the campus and the reason why it is hard to get in and out of the campus.
the worst is the one near gate 2 right after the checkpoint where 8 vehicular flows converge, well bump into each other: 1 from the outside going straight to matheson, 2 from the outside turning right to AGS, 3 from the school bus parking lot going to matheson, 4 on matheson going the other way turning left to AGS, 5 om matheson exiting the campus turning right, 6 vehicles coming from the football fields parking area going to the road beside katipunan, 7 same roadway turning left going to AGS, 8 on road beside katipunan going to AGS.
then an other convergence point occurs just near it – the exit point from the irwin theater parking areas where at least 5 vehicular flows converge. 1 on the parking area exiting to the matheson (mostly cars without stickers), 2 on the parking area exiting the campus through the football field parking area, 3 on the aprking area turning right to matheson, 4 vehicles on matheson coming from the college area turning right to the football parking field parking areas and 5 on same road going straight on matheson to go to the AGS parking area.
3. make all cars coming from AGS (irwin theater) who wants to exit the campus to turn right on matheson and exit the campus through gate 3. this will dramatically decongest gate 2. also exiting at gate 3 makes more sense since the u-turn slot on katipunan is nearer at gate 3. they need to widen or add lanes on the exit roads at gate 3.
4. in fact make all campus roads a one-way traffic, counter-clockwise</strong or make it clockwise. this will make navigation much easier and traffic management simpler. will need to consult traffic experts on what is best here – clockwise or counter clockwise. will probably need to build more or widen some roads for this scheme to work.
view pictures here and related topic: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/impossible-traffic-at-the-ateneo-grade-school/
getting into the AGS drop-off and pick up points is a real pain these days, not to mention getting in and out of ateneo.
my view is the main problem in all of these is simple – there is not enough parking spaces for all the cars that pick up AGS students.
the staggered dismissal times has helped unload volume but even with it there are now longer delays, above.
many parents who have posted here who were previous CPRs have said they have raised the problem of traffic and not enough parking spaces with ateneo admin in previous years. the same problems have been mentioned last school year and this school year the school has not done anything about these problems.
no new parking spaces were opened up for us. the new traffic scheme may have moved the volume of vehicles out of the pick-up/drop off points , but this was just moved to the football field parking lots. in other words with no changes and additions, what ateneo has done is take the problem from one place but just moved it to another.
i hope it does not happen – the next accident might not occur at the drop-off/pick up points but it might happen at the football fields parking spaces.
“…my view is the main problem in all of these is simple – there is not enough parking spaces for all the cars that pick up AGS students….”
Has it also occurred to you that there may also be just too many cars?
yes it has. but there is not much we can do about that.
the number of vehicles going into campus is directly proportionate to number of students. (maybe 85% to 90% of students use their own vehicle to/from school?) we can only reduce the number of vehicles if we reduce the number of students. there are already groups of students who use car pools.
the high number of vehicles is a given that the school need to accept and work around with. just as ateneo sitting right beside miriam, the overpass right before ateneo and katipunan is just one long straight road are also givens.
There have been numerous suggestions posted in this blog which are all worth serious consideration. My thoughts now: How do we make Ateneo listen?
we need to keep bringing these things up to teachers, admin and the CPRs. and we need to get many more parents talking about it.
I suggest that as a matter of practice, our middle school students be dropped along Katipunan at the foot of the pedestrian overpass and made to walk all the way to AGS. Better still, they can be taught to use public transportation.
A little walking is good for them.
I should point out that our guards are quite good in guiding our pedestrians