Gov’t eyes Edsa motorcycle lane to address traffic woes

INQUIRER PHOTO/NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is looking into putting up an exclusive lane for motorcycles along Edsa to solve the perennial traffic in Metro Manila’s busiest major thoroughfare.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said he already had “initial discussions” with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to implement the new traffic scheme.

“What we’re currently seeing right now is that the motorcycles are eating up all the remaining lanes in Edsa. We are now working with the MMDA on how we can improve the situation relating to motorcycles,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

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The 23.8-kilometer Edsa currently has four lanes each on its northbound and southbound, with the innermost lane dedicated to the Edsa Bus Carousel, and a portion of the outermost lane for bicycles and other light vehicles.

According to Bautista, the government is eyeing to set up the motorcycle lane beside the bike lane, or second from the outermost lane.

Studies warned that Edsa had already breached its capacity of 300,000 vehicles a day due to the rising number of private vehicles.

According to the MMDA, an average of 427,000 vehicles traverse Edsa daily, 40 percent of which or 170,000 are motorcycles.

The chief of the DOTr said putting up a motorcycle lane would also aim to address the billions of pesos in economic loss due to heavy traffic in the metro.

P2.4 billion a day

Citing a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the economic cost of traffic was P2.4 billion a day in Metro Manila back in 2012.

The figure ballooned to P3.5 billion in 2017, while the latest Jica study in 2022 estimated it to have reached around P4.9 billion a day. This figure is projected to almost double to P9 billion a day by 2030.

The MMDA currently implements a “special, nonexclusive” lane—particularly the fourth from the outermost lane—of Edsa for motorcycles and scooters under MMDA Resolution No. 12-01, series of 2012.

This was marked by bright blue dotted lanes and a large sign on the road saying the lane was intended for motorcycles. Nonetheless, since it was a shared lane, other private vehicles may also use the lane.