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The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) believes more city buses are needed along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) to accommodate more commuters, despite the busy thoroughfare’s notorious congestion problem.
LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez said only 1,500 out of 3,385 city buses are running on EDSA daily, based on an estimate by the transportation department.
“The number of city buses plying our EDSA routes right now is still inadequate,” Ginez told the Senate economic affairs committee at an inquiry on Metro Manila’s traffic problem on Monday. “We have a proposal to lift the number coding insofar as EDSA buses are concerned.”
Ginez explained that among the LTFRB’s priorities is “maximum people throughput” along EDSA or easing the movement of commuters, who crowd around waiting areas and often spill over to vehicle lanes at peak hours.
Senator Bam Aquino said having more buses would mean heavier traffic on EDSA. Senator JV Ejericto, the committee’s chair, pointed out a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency that showed EDSA can accommodate only up to 1,600 buses.
“Hindi po gano’n ang aming pananaw. Kailangan po nating i-prioritize maximum people throughput (That’s not our point of view. We need to prioritize maximum people throughput),” Ginez said.
Ginez added, however, that the success of his proposal would ultimately depend on keeping buses on the yellow lane.
“Kung mapapaikot po nang mabilis through strict enforcement and implementation ng yellow lane, talagang mas makakaikot nang mabilis ang buses natin (If we implement and enforce the yellow lane strictly, our buses would be able to move faster).”
Although initially incredulous, Aquino and Ejercito said the LTFRB’s proposal should be given a try.
Aquino said he understood Ginez’s point that the number of commuters crowding around EDSA because of a supposed shortage of buses could be affecting the flow of traffic.
“Palagay ko kailangang mas intindihin natin ‘yan. We’ll definitely see after this week kung ‘yong ganyang klaseng logic ay talagang makakatulong sa ating traffic problems (I think we should try to understand it. We’ll definitely see after this week if that logic can indeed help us with our traffic problems,” Aquino told reporters.
“We can try,” Ejercito said, referring to LTFRB’s proposal. “Sa tindi ng problema ng traffic ngayon, lahat ng puwedeng subukang eksperimento, subukan na natin, kahti short-term (With our enormous traffic problem today, we should try all experiments we could, even short-term solutions).”
Ejercito, however, stressed the need for long-term solutions to the traffic problem, particularly better infrastructure.
Text: Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News
Photo: News clip
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
