The dry-run for EDSA’s high-occupancy vehicles (HOV) scheme started at around 6am today.
The plan, which only allows vehicles with two or more passengers to pass the fifth and left most lane, aims to solve EDSA’s traffic problem. EDSA is Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare that connects six of its 16 cities and is usually congested.
In an interview with ABS-CBN morning show Umagang Kay Ganda, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) spokesperson Celine Pialogo acknowledged that tracking whether or not people are following the rule will be a challenge.
“We admit that there is a challenge at night, especially with heavily tinted cars. And that’s why we proposed a dry-run. So we can see how we can improve our cameras,” she said.
Pialogo said they will check if their existing cameras are enough but said they are still trying to maximize the ones they have on hand.
“37 out of our 275 cameras are focused on EDSA. Some of them are HD, so we can see [inside the cars],” she said. “The sun is also a big help, allowing us to see even the back part and check how many passengers [the car has].”
She said the MMDA is still trying to figure out whether they will have enforcers check the cars passing the HOV lane. They are also studying the idea of having these enforcers wear cameras.
Traffic and traffic-related accidents are a constant problem in Metro Manila.
Last week, the metro’s mayors said they, with the MMDA, were studying a policy that will ban motorcycles from EDSA. This plan was met with protest from motorcycle riders yesterday, with some calling the plan “stupid.”
“What they’re doing is they just keep on making it more difficult for the rider because they think that everything that happens in the street, the rider should be to blame. That’s not fair at all,” the spokesperson of the Riders of the Philippines Jobert Christian Bolanos, told GMA’s 24 Oras.
According to data from the MMDA, there were more than 21,000 motorcycle-related accidents in Metro Manila last year. Next to cars, motorcycles are the second most used vehicles in EDSA at 65,757.
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