'Designate overtake lane for motorcycles on EDSA'

MANILA, Philippines - A federation of motorcycle riders yesterday asked the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to designate another lane for motorcycles on EDSA.

Arturo Sta. Cruz, director of the Motorcycle Philippines Federation (MPF), said the MMDA should allow motorcycles to use the innermost lane to overtake during rush hour. He said the lane should be marked red.

Sta. Cruz noted that the blue lane is not exclusive for motorcycles because private vehicles could use it.

He said the proposed red lane would enable motorcycles to overtake slow moving cars.

Sta. Cruz said that based on their proposal, which has yet to be formally presented to the MMDA, the red lane would only be wide enough to accommodate a motorcycle.

Sta. Cruz said the MPF has 486,000 members nationwide. Among the federation’s members are riders of courier companies.

He said the MPF supports the MMDA for allotting a motorcycle lane on EDSA, Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard.

“We have been campaigning for safety. We have been consulted by the MMDA on all of these. We believe that these lanes could be part of the solution,” he said.

Yves Gonzalez, chief of the MMDA’s Traffic Discipline Office, said they are amenable to the proposal but motorcycle riders who would use the fifth lane should overtake on the left side and return to the blue lane.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, said they expect full compliance from the riders by Monday when the weeklong dry-run of the motorcycle lanes will end and traffic enforcers would be issuing violation tickets on erring bikers.

Gonzalez said they would also go after buses that would use the blue lanes. He said erring bus drivers would be fined P500.