The implementation of the provincial bus ban along EDSA has been suspended by a Quezon City court.
The STAR reported that a writ of preliminary injunction stopping the provincial bus ban has been issued through a 25-page ruling last July 31 by Presiding Judge Caridad Walse-Lutero of the Quezon Regional Trial Court Branch 223.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board have been ordered to immediately suspend the planned bus ban after the court found merit in the petitions filed by several transport groups and bus companies.
In its decision, the court found that the order to close bus terminals along EDSA will have “far-reaching effects” saying that it would affect employees, businesses, and other sectors.
The court added that there is no study relating the presence of bus terminals on EDSA to the issue of traffic congestion in the metro.
The court described LTFRB’s conclusion that the provincial buses are the main cause of traffic congestion in Metro Manila as “incorrect.” – With Romina Cabrera/STAR