FILE PHOTO: The fenced-in inner lane of Edsa is supposed to be for the exclusive use of passenger buses. —LYN RILLON
Aside from removing the window period of its number coding scheme, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is also bent on slapping stiffer penalties on motorists who use the Edsa carousel bus lane as though it’s their expressway.
However, MMDA Chair Don Artes was quick to clarify that the new policy is not yet in effect but will be enforced soon to address the perennial traffic problem in the metropolis especially during the Christmas season.
According to the MMDA, traffic volume on Edsa has swollen to around 427,000 vehicles a day and that this is still expected to increase by “up to 20 percent” in the weeks leading to the holidays.
Big number of violators
Artes blamed the thousands of drivers of private cars, motorcycles and even government vehicles for “repeatedly” disregarding traffic rules and use the Edsa bus lane despite traffic enforcers’ constant warnings and reminders.
“To serve as a deterrent, the MMDA, through the Metro Manila Council (MMC), decided to increase the prescribed fines and impose the corresponding suspension of driver’s license depending on the frequency of offense,” he said in an online press conference on Wednesday.
The bus carousel lane is for exclusive use of public utility buses, ambulances and marked government vehicles respond responding to emergencies.
MMDA Regulation No. 23-002 increases the penalties for unauthorized vehicles using the Edsa bus lane to P5,000 from P1,000 on the first offense.
For a second violation, the fine will be P10,000, aside from a one-month suspension of the driver’s license and a mandatory road safety seminar.
A third offense carries a P20,000 fine and a one-year suspension of driver’s license.
On the fourth offense, violators are fined P30,000 and the MMDA will recommend to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) the revocation of their driver’s licenses.
If a violator refuses to stop even if flagged down by a traffic enforcer, “with manifest intention to flee or evade the apprehension,” the offense will be automatically treated as a third offense.
According to Artes, the increase in penalties was neither antipoor nor a money-making scheme of the agency.
Road diggings
“Based on our data and observation, there are those who are willing to pay the P1,000 fines and violate the exclusivity of the bus lane because they can afford it,” he noted.
According to MMDA data, 11,027 tickets were issued for Edsa bus lane violations from January to October this year.
The MMDA also wants to increase the administrative fines on contractors for illegal road diggings, excavations and restorations imposed by the MMDA back in 2011.
READ: LTO to help go after Edsa bus lane violators
Under MMDA Regulation No. 23-001, the fines will rise to P20,000 for light violation (up by 433 percent from the P3,750 previous maximum fine); P30,000 for less grave violation (from P12,500), and P50,000 for grave violation (from 25,000).
“It has become evident that in recent years, many road works and diggings have caused traffic snarls, vehicular congestion and unduly inconvenienced pedestrian traffic due to unsystematic and haphazard conduct of work by contractors,” the regulation stated.