A House panel on Friday proposed an odd-even number coding scheme along Metro Manila bus routes as a way to ease traffic congestion.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are urging bus companies operating along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue to form a consortium that will have a single dispatch system that can control the number of buses on the crammed thoroughfare, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said.
Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, said his proposal will “turn EDSA’s rowdy and chaotic city buses into a fast, efficient and predictable mass transport system.”
Sarmiento’s proposal would turn the innermost lane of EDSA into an “express bus lane” that could be accessed through Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) stations.
He said the express bus lane would circle EDSA, duplicating the route of the MRT3.
“The buses will only load and unload passengers in a synchronized manner at the MRT stations so they are basically an extension of the MRT,” he said.
He said there would be no traffic because the entire inner lane from Taft Avenue to North Avenue and vice-versa would be closed off and exclusive to the express bus lane.
The three lanes in the middle of Edsa would be available for all types of private vehicles subject to the existing vehicle reduction programs like the number coding scheme, Sarmiento said. Private cars will only be allowed to use the outer lane when turning into an intersection, he added.
Sarmiento said the outermost lane of EDSA or the “yellow lane” will be used as an exclusive city bus lane, which would also follow a centralized and synchronized dispatch system, with designated bus stops that are one kilometer apart.
The lawmaker said the express bus lane would extend up to the Parañaque Integrated Bus Terminal in the south and the Valenzuela Integrated Bus Terminal in the north and would move in a “carousel-type system.”
Sarmiento said he is in close coordination with transportation officials, including the MMDA about his plan.
EDSA traffic chief Edison “Bong” Nebrija said he recently got a call from Sarmiento, who told him: “We’re trying to pull everybody [bus firms]… [into] one consortium per route, they will be together, they will share the profit, they will own their buses.”
Activist leader Renato Reyes, however, told the ABS-CBN News Channel that putting a schedule on bus firms is difficult because they are driven by “business interests, not public service.”
“How will you integrate that, how will you put a schedule on these companies when they’re thinking, how will we earn?” Reyes told ANC.
Meanwhile, the Light Rail Transit Authority said it may be able to rehabilitate the three substations damaged by fire earlier than expected.
Paul Chua, LRTA deputy for operations and engineering, told the Senate committee on public services headed by Senator Grace Poe that the initial estimate of nine months was based on a worst-case scenario.
He promised an updated estimate once they assess the actual damage done in about two days.
He said the LRTA has been able to identify so far 189 parts of the substations that were defective or damaged by the fire, of which 178 already have replacement parts coming from the warehouse.
“So, therefore, we only have 11 parts that we do not have,” he said, adding that a gantry was also burned and some of the tracks were damaged when a post fell on them.
To ease the difficulties of commuters on the LRT2 route, Chua said the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has given 200 special permits for point-to-point buses and modern jeepneys to ply from Masinag all the way to Legarda for LRT2 passengers.
A fleet of 300 Angkas motorcycles has also started giving commuters free rides during peak hours from Masinag to Recto since Oct. 8.
Chua also said ride-hailing Grab has vowed to assist commuters affected by the shutdown of three LRT2 stations by giving them rides from Santolan to Recto for only P25, the amount LRT charges passengers.
READ: Traffic congestion stalls capital region
