Lady Gaga and Metro Manila Traffic — A Bad Romance?
The city went Gaga over these past two nights with a legion of Little Monsters flocking to the SM Mall of Asia Arena as it hosted its first-ever major event, Lady Gaga’s two-night Born This Way Ball Concert Tour. Oddly enough, with a seating capacity of 20,000+, the question that came to mind wasn’t whether or not the show would be a success (as it apparently was!). Rather, it was if anyone could still hold a straight face (as in Poker Face?!) after getting stuck in EDSA’s rush hour traffic on their way there.
We had a look at the number of heavy traffic reports on TrafficDito.com these past 2 days and found this:
With the show scheduled to begin at 8pm, the upward spike in EDSA traffic reports between 6-8pm was expected. We compared the numbers to that of Monday-Tuesday last week and found a 56% increase in the number of heavy traffic reports along EDSA during the concert dates.
Luckily though, the hardworking people over at the MMDA were prepared. Rerouting schemes, parking advisories, and even their digital signage boards were prepped for the concert. @metromanilenyo tweeted out the picture below. I guess you could say that he’s a regular… Papa… Paparazzi!
Nice job, @MMDA!Informing and setting the expectations of drivers and stakeholders. twitter.com/metromanilenyo…
— Metro Manilenyo (@metromanilenyo) May 22, 2012
Despite the increase in vehicle traffic volume, it seems that everything worked out pretty well. There were of course, the usual whiners and haters out there but from what we heard, traffic and rerouting efforts went pretty smoothly. This was awesome for all the concert-goers of course. With traffic and parking out of the way, there wasn’t much more to worry about, meaning more time to just… Just Dance! I should stop.
Absolutely no traffic going to and from the Lady Gaga concert. Good job @MMDA @TheMallofAsia @moaarena! :)
— Isa Romualdez (@isa_romualdez) May 22, 2012
Looks like SM MOA Arena’s debut turned out to be an all-around success. This should pave the way for the venue’s future concerts (The Fray is scheduled to perform next, if we’re not mistaken!) and events. Do you think things would go as smoothly if the event were to be scheduled on a weekend?
Or here’s another (if not slight unrelated) question, what event do you think will be the first to fully pack the 20,000+ seat arena? We can only imagine the traffic/parking nightmare that’s going to be.
-EJ, Product Marketing Padawan
