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Friday, March 29, 2024

Group nixes other vehicles using EDSA Busway

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The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) is opposing the proposal to allow other vehicles on the EDSA Busway which was designed for the exclusive use of public buses allowing for the efficient flow commuters at a shorter time.

The group said the busway has dramatically achieved a higher passenger throughput rate utilizing fewer buses, a vital solution for the densest traffic corridor in Metro Manila that is used daily by over 1 million commuters.

MAP members believe that implementing the proposal to allow hybrid and electric vehicles on the EDSA Busway amounts to policy backsliding and will seriously set back the gains thus far achieved.

Clogging the busway with other vehicles will severely degrade the efficiency of the busway to the great detriment of the larger constituency – 400,000 bus passengers who now use this vital transport corridor, MAP said.

“Policy makers must realize this busway is still a work-in-progress, intended to be upgraded to full bus rapid transit (BRT) standards as announced by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista under a privatized concession being considered. 30 business and civic organizations, including the MAP, fully support this policy direction,” the group said.

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The EDSA Busway conforms to globally accepted basic busway guidelines and BRT standards developed abroad over the past five decades and adopted in at least 188 such corridors worldwide.

The standards call for certain specifications, among which are a dedicated busway for the exclusive use of public buses, alignment away from traffic conflict lanes and control from inclusion and intrusion by other vehicles with its outer edges delineated with barriers.

The EDSA Busway must conform to these standards, otherwise it will fail as a bus rapid transit system.

The MAP believes that solution to traffic congestion on EDSA is to fully develop this Busway into a full BRT to conveniently and comfortably convey daily commuters more efficiently and entice motorists to ride the bus.

The Department of Transportation must have exclusive control over the EDSA Busway and other agencies must defer to its policy.

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