We've all hear the promise of our dearest President Rodrigo Duterte about him improving the flow of traffic in the infamous EDSA. He said that he can cut the travel time to just five (5) minutes.
Along with this, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) imposed a bus ban in EDSA. They said that they're going to have a dry run of this with all implementing rules effective.
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Back on the 6th of August, all commuters, drivers, and motorists went on a road frenzy. This, however, pushed the MMDA to stick with the bus ban scheme in EDSA. They then came to the resolution that would drastically improve the flow of traffic in EDSA—to cut the number of buses by 50 percent.
The bus issue in EDSA
If you've ever taken the public transport in EDSA via buses, you know what we're talking about. A trip that would just originally take 15 minutes gets stretched up to an hour—that is how bad the traffic is.
This is why President "Digong" duly noticed the activity that is happening in EDSA and wanted treatment of it.
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EDSA provincial bus ban dry run
The MMDA's action towards this is a bit straightforward—to ban provincial buses in EDSA to make way for urban buses and other private vehicles.
As the dry run took place, heavy traffic on the roads followed. The yellow-lane policy or the directive that provincial buses should just be in yellow lanes in EDSA was the culprit for this heavy traffic.
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Bong Nebrija, MMDA traffic chief, said that the congestion that happened during the dry run just further proves that the bus ban is the key to better traffic flow in EDSA. He said that if they cut the number of buses by half, it could eventually improve the traffic.
That’s why we want to reduce the number of buses on EDSA by 50%."
Yellow-lane policy confusion
Many drivers and motorists were confused as to how the yellow-lane policy works. According to the MMDA, this lane is exclusively for provincial buses.
Some motorists and drivers apparently squeeze themselves in the yellow lane with the thinking that they are on the right track.
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Jojo Garcia, MMDA General Manager also told everyone that the yellow lane is for buses only. This is so that ordinary day-to-day commuters can travel faster.
We are pleading to the motorists, especially the private vehicles: Please avoid the yellow lane. Let us give this lane to the buses. So that the ordinary commuter can commute faster."
The driver-only ban in EDSA
Many strategies have been proposed to amend the current situation EDSA is in. One of the most famous ones would be the driver-only ban along EDSA.
As you may all have remembered, the driver-only ban disallows the usage of EDSA if a car has one (1) passenger only: the driver.
According to data from the MMDA, a large percentage of cars which travel along EDSA are driven and brought about by just the driver. If this gets implemented, people would be forced to commute or to carpool, decreasing the number of cars on the road.
Metro Manila public transportation
To give you the numbers, an approximation of 70 percent of all cars and trips in the Metro come from public transportation. The remaining 30 percent, on the other hand, are trips made by private vehicles.
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Even if this is the case, 20 percent of the road usage is given for public transportation while 80 percent is for private vehicles; which is pretty insane considering the fact that a majority of travelers in EDSA commute.
This is also part of the reason why a bill for dignified commuting has been filed (Magna Carta for Commuters) by Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan.
At this very moment, the bus ban in EDSA is still under a voluntary basis which is comprised of bus line owners and operators. However, if a need to cut the number of buses by half could do the job, then that might just be the resolution.
Source/s: Spot PH |
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