MMDA to fence off EDSA bus lanes

MANILA, Philippines — After strictly enforcing the yellow bus lane policy, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will put up fences to control the flow of buses along EDSA, an official said yesterday.

MMDA traffic czar Bong Nebrija said this is part of the agency’s “road diet” proposal: to fence off two lanes, each measuring 3.5 meters wide, for the sole use of buses along EDSA.

Nebrija said fencing off the bus lanes is a way to make the lanes exclusive for buses while keeping out private vehicles and disciplining speeding bus drivers.

“We have to fence the lane because you cannot discipline them to stay there. They will just race against each other,” Nebrija said.

MMDA chairman Danilo Lim said there will be designated drop-off points for city buses to unload passengers along EDSA.

“You know how city buses are, they just stop and load and unload passengers anywhere. So our plan is to fence the bus lane but we will have designated loading and unloading areas,” Lim said at the sidelines of yesterday’s clearing operations in Pateros.

The MMDA is strictly enforcing the yellow bus lane policy this week as it blamed city buses for the traffic jam that prompted commuters to walk along EDSA.

Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services, said yesterday she has invited officials and stakeholders to a public hearing on Aug. 13, saying transport officials should explain why they seem to be conducting “experiments while people suffer.”

Commuters stranded by the traffic jam along EDSA slammed the MMDA for favoring private vehicles over buses in implementing the yellow lane policy.

Commuters had to walk along EDSA in the rain while city buses were crammed along the yellow lane.

MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago said the traffic along EDSA this week was primarily caused by the weather.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said yesterday it took him “two hours from one place in Makati going to the celebration in the Singapore embassy.”

He said the government is working on expediting the construction of skyways and other roads along EDSA.

“If you have a lot of skyways, I don’t think there will be traffic. We need infrastructure,” he said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez