Mapping Community Insights: An Exploratory Analysis on Traffic Management of Davao City, Philippines

Traffic congestion is a growing concern worldwide, including in Davao City, Philippines. Despite efforts to address this issue through technical and engineering-centered strategies, the community-based knowledge is overlooked. This study aims to recognize and ascertain the factors influential to the traffic management in Davao City carved from the quantified community responses through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Results showed four significant factors namely: 1) Strict Enforcement of Traffic Laws and Strategic Improvements to Infrastructure where high loading factors emphasize the community's strong association between government actions and effective traffic management, underlining that the community acknowledges the local government’s effort to manage the traffic in Davao City (0.775), and the effectivity of traffic lights (0.711) and road improvements (0.613); 2) Traffic Congestion Influences on Community’s Daily Routine where traffic congestion notably impacts daily life, stressing a communal agreement that congestion increases their travel time to work/school (0.824), congestion as a major issue (0.804), and congestion affecting their daily routine (0.767); 3) Community Engagement and Inclusive Approaches where community engagement is deemed crucial for effective traffic solutions, showing the community’s point of view being essential for effective traffic solution (0.715), moderate trust on the local government’s responsiveness (0.657), and desire for the involvement of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and 4) Efficient Public Transportation and Infrastructure where public transportation is identified as essential for congestion reduction, accentuating the community’s perspective on the effectiveness of public transportation in reducing traffic congestion (0.583), supporting policies encouraging public transit (0.558), and preference of taking for public transportation instead of driving (0.458).