Speed travel at 21 kph

The brouhaha over the EDSA Bus Carousel ended in the dramatic suspension of its designated chief implementer, retired Navy Colonel Edison “Bong” Nebrija. Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) acting chairman Romando Artes suspended Nebrija for alleged “over-bearing” and selective enforcement of MMDA Regulation 23-002.

Nebrija assumed full responsibility for the MMDA traffic enforcer whom he allowed “to let go” the two-SUV convoy the latter accosted for passing in the EDSA Busway last Nov. 15. As it turned out, the driver of one of the SUVs falsely claimed Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. supposedly was on board but he was not. And the rest, as we say, was charged to history.

As the head of the MMDA’s Special Task Force Operations, Nebrija stood by his “judgment call” when he joined us in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last week. A few hours after the controversial incident, Nebrija learned during our news forum about the senator’s enraged public denial. After repeatedly apologizing, Nebrija conceded it was a lapse of judgment on his part.

The Nebrija-led Task Force has been in charge of ensuring strict compliance with MMDA traffic rules and regulations all over Metro Manila. This included the latest MMDA regulation that imposed higher fines and stiff penalties for drivers using the EDSA Bus Carousel lane. It is currently reserved for city buses traveling along EDSA between Monumento and the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) along Coastal Road.

From the previous P1,000 fine, the MMDA raised this to P5,000 for the first offense and to as much as P40,000 and a possible cancellation of driver’s license for repeated offenses and related violations. Artes reiterated even “clearly marked government vehicles” should not use the EDSA Bus Carousel lane, citing a list provided by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) included only vehicles used for emergency and enforcement purposes like fire trucks and ambulances, and vehicles involved in its maintenance and operation.

Previously, Artes and DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista declared convoys of the country’s top five officials would be the only ones allowed to use the EDSA Bus Carousel lane. But the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), in a press statement issued last Nov. 17, argued against such special exemptions.

Allowing a convoy of the President, Vice President, Senate President, House Speaker and Chief Justice “runs counter to globally accepted Busway standards that account for its efficiency,” the MAP countered. In a signed statement, MAP president Benedicta Du-Baladad and its infrastructure committee head and staunch EDSA Busway advocate Eduardo H. Yap declared: “This MMDA proposal must not become a policy.”

“Accommodating convoys of officials demonstrates inconsistency of public policy: favoring the privileged few over the overwhelming majority of the commuters and motorists who deserve an efficient EDSA Busway,” the MAP leaders asserted.

I have no vehement objection though to grant such exemptions to these “privileged few.” But that will only be to pass through EDSA Busway in case of heavy traffic. However, if the vehicular traffic is flowing normally, why should these convoys use the EDSA Busway?

It would be the height of too much self-entitlement.

The late president Benigno Simeon Aquino III led by example and even banned the use of “wang-wang,” or blaring sirens used illegally by unscrupulous motorists wanting to get out of traffic gridlocks. In the case of former president Rodrigo Duterte, he refused to attend events held outside Malacañang Palace so that the required security convoy did not add to the traffic jams.

According to the MAP, the EDSA Bus Carousel has carried around 154 million passengers, or an average of 450,000 passengers a day. Since its launch at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020 until December 2022, the MAP credited the Bus Carousel in improving traffic flow along the busy EDSA. In the past, these commuter buses chiefly slowed down traffic due to indiscriminately stopping anywhere to pick up passengers.

In our conversations last week at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay, Nebrija recalled as many as 4,000 to 5,000 bus units used to ply 91 bus routes all over Metro Manila. Many of buses were “colorum” or illegally plying as public utilities. Nebrija estimated 61 percent of these colorum buses passed through EDSA in the past. Thus, Nebrija noted the usual bus travel time would take three hours due to heavy traffic in the entire stretch of 23.8-kilometer long EDSA from Monumento to Roxas Boulevard.

Following the implementation of the EDSA Bus Carousel, Nebrija cited, this volume was reduced to 550 bus units plying point-to-point at designated stops. Thus, bus travel time has been reduced to one-and-a-half hours from point-to-point, Nebrija averred. There are 430,000 vehicles passing through EDSA at any time of the day, per MMDA monitoring.

A co-guest at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday, Jason Salvador, head of PITX Corporate Affairs, attested to the effective implementation of the EDSA Bus Carousel as largely responsible for the much improved traffic flow in and around Metro Manila. Salvador explained the EDSA Bus Carousel complemented the public services of the PITX in providing efficient inter-modal mass transport facility.

Located at the end point in the Coastal Road and Roxas Boulevard junction, Salvador claimed the PITX could accommodate maximum capacity of as many as 200,000 passengers a day. Aside from fully air-conditioned PITX facility, it has also free public WiFi system, he added.

“The PITX has elevated the safety, comfort and convenience of commuters, especially the passengers of provincial buses,” Salvador pointed out.

“The average speed along EDSA is now at 21 kilometers per hour,” Nebrija quipped.

But it wasn’t so when we drove to EDSA Shangri-la for our weekly Tuesday Club breakfast talk shop. Speedometer showed we were crawling at ten to 15 kph.