A proposal to open more lanes for city buses could worsen, not help, traffic along EDSA, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
MMDA traffic czar Edison Nebrija said that a change.org petition to allot three of the five lanes along EDSA for city buses will just further slow traffic flow because of undisciplined bus drivers.
“Fine, let’s allow buses on all lanes of EDSA. Let’s see if EDSA can still be passable. Is this what we want to happen?” Nebrija said on his Facebook Live video of the traffic yesterday.
Nebrija warned that bus drivers could also occupy the fourth and fifth lanes should they be allowed to take the third lane. “If we make it legal, and open the third lane to buses, don’t you think they will not go to the fourth or the fifth lane?” he said.
The MMDA official said that the solution is the reduction of vehicle volume on EDSA which led to the agency’s proposal to prohibit provincial buses and driver-only vehicles.
The change.org petition by Daniel Ramos Jr. urges to open more bus lanes to encourage the riding public to use buses as a form of transportation, which in turn, would also reduce the volume of public vehicles crossing EDSA.
In an interview with The STAR, Ramos said that the proposal would encourage a “cheaper, cost-efficient, and environment-friendly” way of commuting to work or school because traffic along EDSA would not be choked with private vehicles that he said primarily cause the gridlock.
“The cause of traffic is private cars, but the solution they keep on doing is targeting buses. If you lessen or restrict buses, that is just the opposite of the solution. The solution really is to encourage people to use buses,” Ramos said. – With Marc Jayson Cayabyab/STAR
