Dry run of Edsa provincial bus ban starts Monday

Buses from provinces in Northern and Southern Luzon will soon be banned from plying Edsa as their terminals along Metro Manila’s busiest road will be closed to ease traffic congestion. (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — With Metro Manila residents set to return from provinces after the Holy Week break, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reminded the public on Sunday that it would hold a dry run of the ban on provincial buses Edsa on Monday.

“We advise commuters coming from the provinces that starting tomorrow provincial buses are prohibited from loading and unloading along EDSA,” MMDA Edsa traffic head Bong Nebrija said in a text message. “All arriving passengers will be disembarked at the terminals. Plan and time your trip accordingly.”

Nebrija also noted that MMDA would implement a “No Day Off, No Absent” policy among its personnel in anticipation of the influx of passengers starting Sunday evening.

But as of this writing, he noted that bus stations around Metro Manila were “not yet that busy as expected.”

“Maybe our kababayans have planned their return on diffident times that why we see sporadic build up along the exits of NLEX and SLEX,” he said. “We just hope that both commuters and private motorists have planned to trip back to Manila that will not anymore add up to our Monday morning rush hours.”

/atm