Metro Manila commuters who frequently travel between major cities Makati and Quezon City would be happy to know that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has announced a new route that will be covered by its premium point-to-point (P2P) bus service.
The DOTr said that P2P buses have started servicing the Eastwood City, Libis in Quezon City to Makati City route as of yesterday.
“This new P2P route was launched in a continuous effort to not only to (sic) reduce traffic congestion but to provide a more comfortable and more accessible commuting experience to the riding public,” its Facebook post reads.
The terminals for the new route are located at the Eastwood Mall, Orchard Road in Libis and Glorietta 3 Mall, Parkway Drive in Makati.
The regular fare costs PHP85 (US$1.59), while the price for students, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens will be at PHP68 (US$1.27) for a one-way trip.
Traffic in Metro Manila has gotten worse, with roads congested on a daily basis.
There are also always long queues outside train stations, not to mention consistent breakdowns of one of the country’s busiest transit lines — the Metro Rail Transit (MRT).
Just this morning, the MRT had to unload over 850 passengers due to an “electrical failure.”
The Light Rail Transit (LRT) 2 line, on the other hand, needed to “implement provisionary service” last month due to signaling problems of southbound stations. It happened just days after its partial shutdown of almost eight hours because of damaged power lines.
Due to the consistent clamor of the public for better transportation services, the Philippine government in 2015 implemented express buses that only made one or two stops along the stretch EDSA, the metro’s main highway.
This eventually led to the point-to-point (P2P) bus service which doesn’t make stops and actually promises to take off 20 to 30 minutes of your commute time.
Some netizens were grateful for the new route:
Leah Guntan-Cruz said: “Nice!! Ride on. [Hoping for] more routes and Beep [card] loading stations”
Richie Vicencio added: “Keep it going. Hope traffic will be fixed. Good job.”
Others weren’t as amused.
Michelangelo Midel Miguel wrote: “Mass rail transit systems like Japan and Singapore’s is (sic) still the way to go, [they’re] not prone to stoppages or slowing down due to heavy traffic. The country should invest in these, more extensive web of rail lines, [and] branching out to inner cities, not just line extensions or P2P buses.”
“I am not against the P2P bus services but to say that it reduces traffic congestion is quite untrue. Traffic congestion is an effect of people driving close to each other which hampers the mobility of vehicles to flow smoothly,” wrote Mars de Jesus.
“Tailgating is another word for crowding which results in traffic congestion. Unless we prevent ourselves from tailgating and practice a 2-car Standard Driving Distance, congestion will always be a problem.”
Will you be taking this new P2P route? Let us know in the comments section below or tweet us @CoconutsManila.