MANILA, Philippines—Say good-bye to bus terminals on EDSA.
In a briefing Monday, Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas II said that bus firms would be forced to give up their terminals on the busy thoroughfare and move to three passenger terminals that would be built with the approval of the government in separate areas in Metro Manila.
The move is in line with President Aquino’s Executive Order (EO) No. 67, which orders several government agencies to work together to establish integrated mass transport terminals in the metropolis as part of efforts to decongest major thoroughfares.
Roxas said that implementing the EO would involve the revision of routes of all provincial buses to start or end at any of the three government-approved terminals.
“There will be uniformity of franchises. The end-points of their franchise will be at these stations,” he added.
One of the terminals will serve the northern part of Metro Manila. The other will cater to the southern part and the third to the eastern portion. The terminals will be located near other modes of mass transport such as train lines to make it easier for travelers to get to their destinations.
“Because the people are our bosses, we want to make traveling safe and reliable,” Roxas said.
He added: “We are putting the welfare of the people at the center of our initiatives. It’s not that they have not always been our focus but they will be even more so now.”
The establishment of the government-approved terminals is expected to significantly reduce the number of provincial buses that enter Metro Manila to drop off passengers at their respective terminals—in the process contributing to road congestion.
Right now, there are 7,736 buses in Metro Manila. About 5,300 of these ply routes inside the metropolis while the rest ply provincial routes.