MMDA: Rush-hour Edsa ban on cars to pass bottlenecks at metro’s inner roads

MANILA, Philippines — While banning private vehicles on Edsa during rush hours could significantly reduce the volume of cars plying Metro Manila’s main highway, the gridlock would only likely transfer to inner roads of major cities.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Edsa traffic czar Bong Nebrija raised this point when sought on his comment about Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice’s proposal that private vehicles be banned on Edsa from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily to address traffic woes.

“If you will remove 300,000 vehicles off Edsa during those three hours of rush hour, the thing is, can the alternate roads can really take this kind of volume?” Nebrija said in an interview over ABS CBN News Channel.

“So we are just transferring the problem from Edsa to alternate roads on the local government unit (LGU) side,” he added.

He further said that traffic congestion in inner roads “might spill over on Edsa and will also create a problem” for MMDA.

READ: Solon mulls ban on private vehicles along Edsa during rush hours

Based on Erice’s proposition, private car owners will have four options: 1) leave house before 6 a.m.; 2) leave house after 9 a.m.; 3) use routes or streets outside Edsa; or 4) use public transport.

But Nebrija noted that while this is a suggestion, he thinks people “will leave their homes on their most convenient time.”

Nebrija, nevertheless, agreed that even if Erice’s proposal is a “radical solution” to Edsa’s terrible traffic problem, it will indeed reduce vehicle volume in the busy road.

He also said MMDA could tweak the lawmaker’s suggestion to a “hybrid” solution to solve the traffic problem.

“Maybe we can take bits and pieces of these suggestions from other people, put them together and come up with a hybrid solution,” the MMDA official said.

“We might come up with a good one and is not only effective but also acceptable to everyone,” he added. /kga