HPG eyes deployment of ‘premium buses’ to decongest Edsa
Highway Patrol Group’s solution to traffic? Premium buses.
The Philippine National Police’s HPG proposed the deployment of what they call “premium buses” to reduce the volume of vehicles on Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa).
This was HPG’s move to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home and take buses to reduce cars on the 24-kilometer highway.
READ: You are ‘the’ traffic jam | How to slay the Edsa-traffic dragon
According to HPG spokesperson Supt. Grace Tamayo, the HPG had asked some bus companies to convert 50 units to premium buses which will ferry passengers from Edsa-North Avenue in Quezon City to Edsa-Ayala in Makati City.
“We asked bus companies to convert at least one of their units to a premium bus. The premium bus will be air-conditioned. Overcrowding will also not be allowed inside the bus,” Tamayo said on Wednesday.
Article continues after this advertisementOnce the program is in full-swing, the buses will be stationed in terminals at SM North Edsa and in Ayala.
Article continues after this advertisementThe express bus service will not have stopovers. Premium buses will only be allowed to load and unload passengers in the terminals.
Unlike in regular buses, passengers of a premium bus will be limited based on the vehicle’s seating capacity.
“Kung sa isang bus ang capacity ay 50, at [most] 50 vehicles din ang mababawas natin na babagtas sa Edsa,” she said.
(If a bus has a capacity of 50 people, we will be able to remove 50 (private) vehicles at most from Edsa.)
President Aquino himself tapped the PNP HPG to take over the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)’s duty of managing the perennially congested thoroughfare. IDL
