HOV lane dry run nets close to 300 violators

At least 285 motorists were caught violating the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane traffic scheme being tested along EDSA on Monday, according to a report by GMA News' Mark Salazar on 24 Oras.

Under the new rule, which will be on dry run for a week, only vehicles with two passengers or more shall be allowed to pass through the car pool lane or HOV lane in the leftmost lane of EDSA, beside the MRT tracks.

The scheme aims to decongest EDSA by herding the 70 percent of 365,000 private vehicles occupied by only one passenger to designated lanes.

Most of those who were caught violating the HOV lane claimed they were not aware of the start of the dry run.

The report said Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) enforcers on EDSA as well as those monitoring the thoroughfare through 37 CCTV cameras at the agency's surveillance center were unable to inspect 906 vehicles due to their heavily-tinted windows.

"'Yung mga heavily-tinted, wala talaga sa kapangyarihan ng MMDA, it's with the Land Transportation Office," MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago said.

"Kami ho ima-maximize lang namin ang resources namin. Ia-adjust lang namin ang mga CCTV cameras, tingnan po namin kung talagang may paraan pa," she added.

The MMDA urged motorists to follow the new scheme as they may not be able to enforce the HOV lane if they observe low compliance during the week-long dry run.

Pialago suggested carpooling to maximize the number of occupants in a car and allow motorists to use the HOV lane.

"At least kung kayo ay magkaklase, magkaibigan, mag-asawa, magkamag-anak na iisa lang ang interes, iisa lang ang pupuntahan, maari silang mag-share a ride. Titingnan natin po ang figures kaya importante po ang volume count," she said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News