Newest bus scheme on Edsa takes effect in December

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will start implementing its newest program for reducing traffic on Edsa—one of the busiest thoroughfares in Metro Manila—in December.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said on Wednesday that during a meeting with 75 of the 100 bus operators who ply routes on Edsa, the majority of them were in favor of the bus segregation scheme.

“They all approved of the plan … There was no opposition,” he told reporters.

Under the bus segregation scheme, buses will be classified into groups based on their routes and assigned loading and unloading bays for their exclusive use.

A bus belonging to Group A, for example, can only stop at loading and unloading bays assigned to the group. The same policy applies to buses assigned to Group B.

The third group, on the other hand, will consist of “all-stop” public utility buses, or PUBs, which can load or unload passengers at all bus stops for the benefit of passengers who are traveling only a short distance.

Tolentino said the new scheme is expected to reduce traffic on Edsa since buses will make fewer stops as well as prevent crowding at loading and unloading bays.

He added that the MMDA has formed a technical working group to iron out the details, including the assignment of bus stops to the different groups.

Once the kinks have been ironed out, the agency is expected to implement the new program by December.

“We are amenable to this proposal but what we can’t predict is if this will be acceptable to our passengers. They will be the ultimate judge of this new program,” said Chito Alejandro, owner of a fleet of buses that ply the Navotas-Sta Rosa, Laguna, route.

According to him, an Ayala-bound passenger who gets on a bus that can load and unload passengers only in Magallanes will have to turn back and walk for about a kilometer or get on another bus to get to his destination.—Niña Calleja