Edsa ‘zipper’ lane experiment snagged; MMDA boss says sorry

Zipper lane being readied by MMDA enforcers for dry run. Photo by Jovic Yee

It turns out that the planned counterflow lane that is expected to ease the Edsa commute has to be put on the back burner.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has announced that it is shelving the implementation on Monday of a “zipper” lane along Edsa after a dry run of the plan further aggravated congestion along the northbound lane of the thoroughfare on Friday, drawing the ire of commuters and motorists alike.

MMDA officer in charge and general manager Tim Orbos was apologetic when he faced reporters  on Friday, an hour after the agency conducted a road test of the zipper lane that was meant to ease traffic flow for Makati-bound motorists.

The initiative dedicated the innermost lane of Edsa northbound from Main Avenue in Quezon City to Guadix Drive-MRT Ortigas in Mandaluyong City.

“I take full responsibility for this. We are trying our best [to ease traffic]. If we made a mistake, we are sorry,” Orbos said.

While he said that the MMDA would have to go back to the drawing board to better ensure the effectiveness of the zipper lane, he said the initiative wasn’t a total failure since it only took 6 minutes for southbound motorists to traverse the 2.5-kilometer zipper lane.

From bad to worse

The dry run, which was scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., was cut short by an hour after traffic in the northbound lane got  worse, reaching all the way to Makati.

“For those in the northbound [lane], I would understand if they would call it a failure because they had been inconvenienced. But again, we are doing our best and we are doing what we can given our situation right now. This is one of the things that we can do given that there’s no infrastructure yet and the mass transport [solutions] we are expecting [are yet to arrive],” Orbos said.

Areas for improvement

Among the areas for improvement that Orbos noted were enforcement and communications.

Minutes before the zipper lane was opened, confusion hit motorists as some Quezon City-bound drivers still used the lane even if it had already been cleared by traffic enforcers. This further aggravated the traffic situation, especially near Edsa-Main Avenue.

Road accidents

There were also at least three vehicular accidents that occurred along the northbound lane of Edsa in Makati and Mandaluyong cities just a few hours before the opening of the zipper lane.

Earlier, Orbos said the MMDA decided to reintroduce the zipper lane because of the capital’s limited road network and the reality that there are lots of cars out in the streets.

Way over maximum capacity

Recent data from the MMDA showed that there are 7,500 cars running on Edsa per hour per lane. This figure is way over the  thoroughfare’s carrying capacity of only 6,000 cars per hour per lane.

Orbos had said he would rather be criticized for doing something to ease traffic congestion than draw flak for sitting on his job.

On social media, users called the initiative an “epic fail” that only worsened the usual Friday traffic.