Edsa ban on provincial buses ‘antipoor’ — Albay solon

Buses from provinces ply Edsa. (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines – Albay Representative Joey Salceda on Monday joined the call for the Supreme Court to stop the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing a ban on provincial buses on Edsa.

In his petition, Salceda urged the High Court to nullify MMDA Regulation No 19-002 which prohibits or revokes the issuance of permits to all provincial public utility bus terminals and operators along Edsa.

Salceda, in his petition, said the regulation is “anti-poor” because only provincial commuters would be affected by the ban.

Mathematically, based on the 2017 figure from the MMDA, Salceda said there are 3,300 provincial buses, 12,000 city buses and more than 247,000 private vehicles passing Edsa every day.

“Why pick on probinsyanos to solve Metro Manila traffic,” he asked.

He added that there was no correlation between the original routes of the provincial buses and the congestion of traffic in Edsa since the traffic congestion on Edsa during office hours are caused by private vehicles and city public buses.

This is the second petition against the MMDA regulation on provincial buses. (Editor: Cenon B. Bibe Jr.)

READ: SC asked to stop ban on provincial buses along Edsa