Almendras cites 'new phenomenon' in EDSA

Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras on Monday said they have discovered a "new phenomenon" in EDSA.

 

"Sa gabi, your honor, may bagong phenomenon na we're still trying to understand: Bakit ang daming naghihintay ng bus pauwi?" Almendras told senators during the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs' hearing on the traffic in Metro Manila.

 

The secretary added that while commuters are having a hard time getting a bus ride in the afternoon, EDSA is packed with passenger buses in the morning.

Almendras has been personally monitoring EDSA since the police's Highway Patrol Group took over traffic management on the main thoroughfare.

He said somebody told him that passenger buses are no longer going out in the afternoon or in the evening because they have already hit their quota during daytime.

 

"This is not fact yet... Somebody told me that when the buses hit their minimum targets, the drivers decide, 'Bakit pa ako magpapakahirap magbiyahe?'" he said.

 

"I have that question. Why do I see a lot of people on the streets waiting to go home in the afternoon than in the morning?" he added.

 

Sen. Vicente "Tito" Sotto III told Almendras that the government should look into the so-called new phenomenon.

 

Sotto also suggested that the government should study proposals for the government to implement new working hours for private and government offices to lessen the number of people moving during rush hours.

 

Almendras said that there will be a public consultation on the traffic congestion along EDSA in the coming days. 

 

Suggestions can be emailed to EDSA@cabsec.gov.ph. 

 

Roads for vehicles

 

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Manila Developmental Authority chairman Francis Tolentino reiterated during the hearing that the traffic problem on EDSA is mainly caused by the volume of vehicles in Metro Manila.

 

He said that to ease traffic, the government should hasten the completion of infrastructure projects.

 

Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said that it usually takes three years for such projects to be completed. —Trisha Macas/ALG, GMA News