For the first time ever, although only for a day, EDSA will be a shared road on June 28 with half of its north- and south-bound lanes devoted to pedestrians and bikers to encourage commuters to use bicycles as an alternative mode of transportation.
The Metro Manila Development Authority, however, has yet to come up with an alternative traffic plan for Sunday’s road-sharing event dubbed as “EDSA Revolution 2015.”
The event will start from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. from SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City to Ortigas Avenue in Quezon City.
MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said the agency will announce its traffic plan within the week.
The group Bayanihan sa Daan Movement said the road-sharing exercise is the first step in the shift toward a bicycle-friendly Philippines.
“We ask everyone to make the most of these bike lanes by using them to show the effectiveness of disciplined road sharing scheme as seen and practiced in other countries who have adopted the same strategy,” the group said in its Facebook account.
“This is something we must and can do for ourselves with the support of our government in order to ease the traffic problems in our cities, alleviate air pollution, create efficiency of use, everyone saves money and will get to their destinations reliably within a reasonable amount of time.”
The group cited a study which showed that 90 percent of air pollution in Metro Manila is caused by motorized vehicles.
The same study also showed that transport sector emissions accounted for 30 percent of air pollution in the Philippines.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the transport sector contributed 27 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide in 2010, and this could double by 2050.
In February, the same road-sharing event was held from Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.