Solon pushes for compressed work week to solve Edsa traffic woes

MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to address the traffic woes along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), a lawmaker on Sunday pushed for a compressed work week consisting of only four days.

According to Baguio City Representative Mark Go, if the government would compress the work week, the number of vehicles travelling along Edsa would also be lessened.

“Nagtatrabaho ang mga empleyado ng six days a week, pero ‘yung compressed work week ay gagawing four days lang para maibsan yung traffic lalong-lalo na diyan sa Edsa,” Go said in an interview with dzBB.

“Can you imagine now you are working six days, gagawing four days? Longer hours, shorter ang week. Ito ay isang approach dito,” he added.

Aside from this, he also suggested not allowing taxis to wait for passengers in front of terminals on Edsa.

Go also proposed constructing additional Metro Rail Transit lines running through EDSA, thus, giving the public an alternative way of commuting.

According to Go, the proposed provincial bus ban of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) would not have a big impact and could only do little in solving the traffic in Edsa.

He said that out of the 367,728 vehicles using the said major thoroughfare daily, only around 5,000 to 6,000 come from the provinces, or only about two percent of the total number.

The MMDA initially targeted to start the implementation of the bus ban’s dry run along Edsa between August 6 and 7.

READ: MMDA eyes dry run of provincial bus ban on August 6 or 7 — exec

However, a Quezon City Regional Trial Court ordered the MMDA to stop the implementation of its proposed provincial bus ban.

In a 25-page decision released on Friday, Quezon City RTC Branch 223 Judge Caridad Walse-Lutero said both the MMDA and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board seemed to have abused their police powers when they amended the routes of provincial buses and ordered the closure of provincial bus terminals along Edsa without sufficiently consulting the ban’s stakeholders. /je

READ: QC court stops MMDA plan to bar provincial buses on Edsa