The bottleneck of vehicles along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA)
showed signs of easing up as provincial buses started using the
underpasses, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said
yesterday.
MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino, who personally observed the
implementation of the bus scheme, said there was an uninterrupted
traffic flow of vehicles along on EDSA-Crossing area.
“Before, both provincial and city operating buses congest the service
road. Now, a number of provincial buses will be removed from the
service road,” said Tolentino.
Under the scheme, provincial buses can use three underpasses along
EDSA- Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong, P. Tuazon and Aurora in Quezon
City.
Covered by the odd-even scheme, provincial buses with plate numbers
ending with odd numbers (1,3,5,7 and 9) shall use the tunnels every
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while those with plate numbers ending in
even numbers (2,4,6,8, and 0) shall use the underpasses every Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday.
On Sundays, provincial and city buses are barred from using the tunnels.
He said the scheme also hopes to decrease the travel time of commuters going to and from the provinces.
“Our objective is to help those who will be going home to the provinces during the holidays,” said Tolentino.
Another benefit of the scheme is traffic enforcers can easily detect
city operating buses that wait so long for passengers at designated bus
stops.
Tolentino said the scheme only covers provincial buses since they do
not need to stop at bus stops along EDSA to pick up or drop off
passengers while city buses use designated bus stops along EDSA.
During the ‘ber’ months, traffic volume is unusually heavy prodding
the agency to implement traffic measures to reduce the anticipated
traffic congestion during the holidays.
The scheme will be effective until January 4, 2015. Those who will violate the scheme may face a P500 fine.
The MMDA barred public utility buses from using underpasses years ago following the numerous accidents that occurred in tunnels.
