Number of vehicles on EDSA nears pre-pandemic levels —MMDA

The number of vehicles plying Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare, EDSA, is already nearing pre-pandemic levels amid the implementation of a more relaxed quarantine alert level status in the capital region, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos Jr. said Saturday.

“Ang mga sasakyan pre-pandemic 405,000. Ngayon 398,000 na,” Abalos said in an interview on Dobol B TV.

(The number of vehicles [on EDSA] pre-pandemic is 405,000. Now it’s 398,000.)

The MMDA chair said this is just 7,000 short of the pre-COVID-19 level.

However, he said that despite the rise in the volume of vehicles on EDSA, the travel speed along the thoroughfare has increased.

“Pero ang good news, ‘yung speed natin dati 11 kilometers per hour, ang bagal, from Monumento to Roxas Boulevard. Ngayon ay 23 kilometers per hour. Mabilis pa rin,” Abalos said.

(But the good news is, the speed before was 11 kilometers per hour, that's slow, from Monumento to Roxas Boulevard. Now it is 23 kilometers per hour. That's still fast.)

To avoid further traffic along Edsa, the MMDA is urging malls not to conduct sales, especially during peak hours.

The National Capital Region was downgraded to Alert Level 3, wherein most of business activities are allowed to operate albeit at limited capacity, from October 16 to 31, 2021. —KG, GMA News