MMDA calls zipperlane trial a success, but motorists complain over traffic

RICHARD A. REYES/FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority called the implementation of the zipperlane along a stretch of Edsa on Wednesday a “success” even as motorists complained of heavy traffic on the major thoroughfare during the hours it was opened.

Cris Saruca, head of the MMDA’s Traffic Discipline Office, said vehicles on the northbound and southbound lanes of Edsa were primarily “free-flowing” from 6 a.m. to 8:05 a.m., the hours the zipperlane for southbound vehicles was opened from Megamall to Boni Ave. in a northbound lane of the thoroughfare.

“The media were there and they saw how the zipperlane worked,” Saruca said, noting that in that span of time, 2,045 vehicles used the experimental lane.

He could not give an estimate about the total volume of vehicles going southbound on Edsa during that time.

According to Saruca, the zipperlane was so successful that traffic in the usual “chokepoints” on both the southbound and northbound lanes of Edsa was “OK.”

He said these usual chokepoints included Timog, Kamias, Cubao, Monte De Piedad, Santolan, Ortigas, Shaw Boulevard, Ayala and Magallanes.

Told about some Edsa motorists who complained about heavy traffic during that time, Saruca said they might have wrongly attributed the “momentary pause (in vehicular movement)” in a part of the major thoroughfare to the existence of the zipperlane.

“There was a vehicular incident just after the Guadalupe Bridge, northbound, around 6 a.m. or so. One of the drivers was injured, so they had to give him first-aid. And they had to wait for the ambulance to arrive,” he said.

A check at Metrobase showed that the accident in Boni, northbound, at 6:29 a.m. involved a Honda Jazz, with plate number NHO-354, and a taxi, with plate number UWB-671.

The Metrobase said the only details specified were that one vehicle had rear-ended the other.

It said both vehicles were moved out of the area at 7:20 a.m.

“But beyond (that part of Edsa where the accident took place), vehicles were moving quickly already (during that time),” he said.

Asked why the zipperlane was closed at 8:05 a.m., or 25 minutes before it was scheduled to be closed, Saruca said, “It wasn’t supposed to be closed strictly at 8:30 a.m. If it’s not workable to have the zipperlane under present circumstances, we adjust.”