The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said on Tuesday that private vehicles are now allowed to use the yellow lanes along the stretch of EDSA amid the implementation of a new traffic system on the highway.
In an interview with CNN, MMDA traffic czar Bong Nebrija said that the new traffic system on EDSA has initially caused confusion among motorists which led to traffic congestion on some portions of the highway.
“We observed traffic building up early on in the morning because the motorists are sort of confused that the inner lane or median lane has already been closed for the buses. And with that, we needed to drive away motorists who got caught inside these barriers so that we could let the buses pass through,” Nebrija said.
However, he said that private vehicles may now use the yellow lanes on the rightmost lanes of EDSA to prevent traffic build-up since the leftmost lanes of the highway are now allotted to buses.
“For private vehicles, they could use the old yellow lanes and actually use the service roads. They could use that as an alternative route so that we could decongest the main artery of EDSA,” Nebrija said.
Meanwhile, Nebrija said that they monitored an increase in vehicle volume on the first day of implementation of general community quarantine in Metro Manila.
“We significantly felt the volume increase yesterday. When we started the ECQ, we counted around 15% to 21% of volume on EDSA and then when we went to MECQ, the number rose to around 40%. Yesterday, maybe around 50% to 60%. Still not bad compared to the previous volume of EDSA before COVID,” Nebrija said.
