THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has expressed full support for the EDSA Busway Concourse Project being initiated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and SM Prime Holdings Inc. that would benefit both the commuters and pedestrians.
During the ground-breaking ceremony held on Tuesday, MMDA Acting chairman Romando Artes, along with other government officials, announced the start of construction for the SM North EDSA Busway.
“The purpose of this project is to add a busway station in North EDSA to make the travel of commuters easier and more convenient. It will also provide safe transportation access for senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and pregnant women,” the MMDA said in a
statement.
The busway station will have state-of-the-art walkways with various access such as escalators and elevators. The concourse project will also feature a ticketing booth, Automatic Fare Collection System turnstile, and concierge for various transactions.
In addition to SM North EDSA, there will also be concourse projects at SM Mall of Asia and SM Megamall.
The DOTr, MMDA, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the local government of Quezon City are partnering together on the project.
DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista thanked the SM Group for their continuous support of transport infrastructure projects of the agency.
“This concourse leading to the busway should be counted as a (corporate social responsibility) CSR initiative that addresses one of DOTr’s goals—accessibility. We will be establishing convenient access to the EDSA Busway – right in the middle of overlapping transport infrastructure projects,” he said.
The government began operating the EDSA Busway project in July 2020 to complement the operations of Metro Railway Transit line 3 and its bus augmentation program.
The project aim to help transport commuters in the National Capital Region and cut the travel time from Monumento to Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange from the usual 2 to 3 hours because of traffic, to just 45 minutes to 1 hour.