Heads up, commuters: The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced today that it is planning to close all provincial bus terminals in the highway EDSA by June this year.
“We hope to close down all terminals by June,” MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia said in a statement posted on MMDA’s Facebook page earlier today.
The MMDA believes that closing down the bus terminals will lessen traffic at the usually-congested thoroughfare. Many Manileños complain about buses in EDSA because some of them don’t follow stops and tend to load and unload passengers at random spots, causing traffic clogs.
This also means that passengers aboard provincial buses will no longer be able to go down the bus terminals in EDSA. Instead, they will have to alight at bus terminals being constructed at the outskirts of the metro, including a terminal in Valenzuela City for northbound passengers and one in Sta. Rosa, Laguna province for southbound passengers.
MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim also said that the regulation is in line with the government’s order to close down all provincial bus terminals along the major artery.
“Our direction is to remove all bus terminals along EDSA and relocate them in the outskirts of the metro to minimize traffic congestion,” said Lim.
A dry run for the new regulation will take place after the Holy Week in late April.
The regulation still needs to be signed by all the Metro Mayors that compose the Metro Manila Council (MMC), the policy-making and governing body of the MMDA, before it is fully implemented.
