Provincial buses allowed on Edsa

Inquirer file photo/Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — Provincial buses will be temporarily allowed to traverse Edsa from Dec. 20 to Jan. 5 for faster turnaround time and to accommodate more passengers as increased volume is expected this holiday season.

According to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Don Artes, from Dec. 20 to Dec. 25, provincial buses are allowed to traverse Edsa starting from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Meanwhile, from Dec. 26 to Jan. 2, these buses will be allowed to pass through Edsa for the entire 24 hours a day.

More than 2,100 buses will benefit from the said holiday traffic scheme. There are 45 provincial bus terminals along Edsa—27 on the northbound side, while 18 are on the southbound side.

READ: Retailers protest MMDA ban on mall-wide sales

All provincial buses coming from the north of the National Capital Region shall terminate their trips in Cubao, Quezon City, while those coming from the south shall terminate their trips in Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange in Parañaque, or Pasay City.

According to Artes, the volume of vehicles traversing Edsa has already reached 464,000 and is expected to further increase to 470,000 to 480,000 on the second to third week of December—way above both the prepandemic high of 405,000 and beyond the road’s capacity of 300,000 vehicles a day.

Travel speed is estimated to slow down to 18 kilometers per hour (km/h)—substantially lower than the average 21 km/h.

Artes said the travel speed is expected to decrease further to around 15 km/h as Christmas nears.

“Albeit there is an expected increase in vehicular volume this Christmas season, we want our bus operators to serve more passengers for their convenience and faster travel to their respective destinations,” the MMDA chief said.

He assured commuters that Edsa bus carousel trips would not be affected by this adjustment for the holiday season.