At least 280 violators were caught during the first day of the dry run for the implementation of the special lane on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or Edsa designated only for those vehicle drivers with two or more companions.
As of noon Monday, the Metro Manila Development Authority recorded a total of 1,465 drivers who used the High Occupancy Vehicle or HOV lane. Of these numbers, only 262 drivers complied with the policy.
Using closed-circuit television cameras, personnel from MMDA-Metrobase also recorded 906 heavily-tinted vehicles using the lane, which prevented the agency from apprehending possible violators.
“We need more adjustments. We have to acquire more cameras to be used on blind spots—Shaw [Mandaluyong], Estrella [Edsa-Makati]and Aurora Boulevard [Cubao, Quezon City],” said Edison Nebrija, MMDA supervising officer for operations.
“Since we released this policy, our Metrobase has been very busy trying to focus where to get the most clear or the clearest shot to apprehend HOV violators,” Nebrija added.
The MMDA will conduct the dry run for the new traffic measure for a week, looking for vehicles with a single rider that would be barred from traversing the HOV lane.
The HOV lane is the innermost lane of Edsa, closest to the Metro Railway Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) wall.
The MMDA made the move after members of the Metro Manila Council, the agency’s governing board and policymaking body, rejected the proposal of lawmakers to implement an odd-even scheme along Edsa.
“The policy of HOV is to give privilege to carpooling. The odd-even, two-day number coding did not push through,” said Nebrija.
By introducing the HOV lane, the agency is hoping to decrease by 30 percent the number of private vehicles traversing Edsa.
The MMDA, however, clarified that HOV vehicles are still subject to the existing number coding scheme.
Should the HOV measure be fully implemented, violators will be slapped with a citation ticket and a P500 fine for disregarding traffic signs.
Apart from ground apprehensions, the MMDA also used CCTV cameras under the no-contact apprehension policy.
The scheme would cover the whole stretch of Edsa from Balintawak, Quezon City to Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, which has five lanes. Two are designated for public utility vehicles or yellow lanes, while three are designated for private vehicles and motorcycle riders.
Lawmakers earlier urged the MMDA and local executives to consider reimplementing the odd-even traffic scheme, which they claimed would reduce the volume of cars on Edsa by at least 60 percent.
Under the present number coding policy, cars in sets of two ending numbers are banned from using main roads in Metro Manila daily.
Other lawmakers have proposed increasing the number of banned number plates per day to three.